My Secret Admirer
by lollipopdiaries
Summary: Oliver Queen first met Felicity in disguise as 'Jonas'. Who would have thought he would be competing with himself for the affections of his dream girl. Olicity fluffiness.
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHORS NOTE: This is a new fic which I just had to write and get out of my head. This is going to be short, since I have other ongoing fics that need my attention but really this super cute fluffy piece is to good to pass up. **

**Would appreciate reviews and comments of you want me to continue this one either here or via twitter (my handle: lollipopsays).**

**You know the drill, I don't own anything I'm just an Olicity shipper and I express my love for them via writing fanfics.**

**Hope you enjoy this.**

* * *

**MY SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 1**

"Didn't I tell you this would be great? Nobody recognizes us, we're just like everyone else." Tommy nudged his friend.

"Tommy, we are like everyone else. We just have more money than most. Well our parents at least," Oliver reminded his best friend.

"Whatever Ollie," Tommy pouted slightly for a second before he got his grin back, "besides your disguise is the best. Never thought I'd see the day nerdy Ollie in a brown wig."

Oliver rolled his eyes at his best friend, "well I don't see how you in dark shades and growing a beard with a blond spiked wig could be in any way a better disguise."

"You're just jealous because I look just as handsome in my disguise compared to you. Now go get us our coffee," Tommy hiked up his legs on the coffee table of the couch the two of them where currently sitting on in the coffee shop in the middle of town.

Oliver shook his head but followed his friend's instruction as he stood up to get in line to order their coffees. He did admit to himself Tommy's idea of going incognito for the day was a brilliant plan. They were after both recognizable and their antics where almost always detailed on every tabloid. It was a refreshing not to be bothered at all and left them time to really savor this new found feeling.

Tommy and he both had started working in their respective family business, Tommy with Merlyn Global and he with Queen Consolidated, both of them Vice Presidents of their companies currently shadowing their fathers.

It had been an unusually long working week for him, the company servers had somehow been breached and it had taken the combined efforts of the IT and Applied Sciences departments to avert a major disaster from happening in loosing vital information. His father had almost had no sleep at all, a credit to the dedication he had personally put into ensuring that QC hurdled this latest fiasco.

Oliver had tried his best to keep up with the happenings in QC but the jargon of technology speak was lost on him although he had bravely tried to filter through all of the information he had been fed to be able to provide useful inputs to the department heads.

,

Tommy's suggestion to spend the weekend incognito turned out to be something he needed exactly, to be just one of the many unrecognizable faces in the crowd, going about their own business for the day.

He was so lost in thought that he failed to right himself immediately after someone had bumped his back sending him crashing toward a person in front of him who was carrying a cup of steaming hot coffee that had now soaked almost the entire front of her blouse.

"Oh my God, oh my God, that's hot…very hot, so hot," the girl in front of his started to mutter to herself not even looking at whoever was responsible for making her spill her coffee busy spreading out her arm and continuing her muttering.

"I'm sorry, sorry…" Oliver started as he looked around and grabbed a handful of napkins and unconsciously started to dab them on the girls blouse over her boobs.

"What the hell! What are you doing!" the girl jumped away from him and finally eyed him.

Oliver realized exactly what it was he was doing and started to turn a light shade of pink under the collar which was the first time in a long time that had happened to him. In the meantime, the girl had turned the most reddish shade of red as the whole incident had sunk in on her.

"What did you do man?" Tommy patted Oliver's back before taking in the scene before him.

"I…" Oliver started to explain to his friend but was cut-off by the still angry blond.

"This neanderthal bumped into me and had me spill my coffee. Now on top of my wrecked blouse, my coffee's all gone. Usually I'd be more concerned about my obviously ruined blouse but I really needed my coffee fix, it's been a tiring three days trying to move-in to a new city and this is the only coffee shop within my vicinity that had decent coffee, how that's possible given the size of this city…" Felicity rambled on.

"Ah, sorry to cut in miss," Tommy tried to stifle a laugh, "but as a way to apologize, my friend over here who is very sorry by the way, could buy you a new cup of coffee, yes?"

Felicity eyed Oliver again suspiciously, "okay fine."

"Why don't I keep you company while my friend does that then, " Tommy said giving Oliver the eye gesture, "let's sit over there," Tommy pointed to the couch they had occupied earlier and directed her their but not before gathering a few more napkins and handing them to her getting a reluctant thanks from her.

From his place in line, Oliver spotted Tommy now having a friendly chat with the blond girl he had accidentally spilled coffee on noting that Tommy had lent her his favorite jacket, the one Oliver repeatedly wanted Tommy to give to him because it was just so awesome, to wear over her wet blouse, for some reason that had irked Oliver.

Finally within a foot away from Tommy and his new 'friend', he nudged Tommy knee to attract his attention.

"Hey man, didn't notice you there," Tommy said surprised looking up at his friend.

Oliver frowned then answered him, "yeah, I noticed."

Tommy raised his brow at his friend as if to say 'what the hell' before he returned his attention to the girl beside him.

"This is Felicity Smoak, she just moved here three days ago from Central and she is about to start a new job in two days, guess where?" Tommy stifled a grin.

Oliver for some reason was put off by the sudden burst of information his friend had about his new 'friend', the 'friend' that technically he had met first by spilling coffee all over her.

"No guess?" Tommy insisted.

"None," Oliver shrugged.

"Queen Consolidated. Meet the newest IT specialist of QC," Tommy shared with Oliver giving him a secret look.

"Like I said," turning back to Felicity, "this guy here and I are actually best friends. We've been besties since forever, "I'm Tom, I mentioned that already and this is Jonas, Jonas meet Felicity," Tommy finished giving Oliver a look.

Oliver leaned forward from the armchair he was perched on to shake the small hand of Felicity grimacing again, "sorry again for," gesturing toward her still wet and now browning white blouse before handing her the new cup of coffee.

Felicity looked down on her blouse scrunching her nose, "well, at least it isn't one of my favorite blouses."

"Jonas," Tommy emphasized the name again. He and Oliver were after all still in disguise, "as Felicity was sharing, she lives two blocks from here and in the last two days, this has become her regular coffee shop." Tommy turned back to Felicity, "this shop is our favorite too."

After Oliver gave him a 'are you crazy' look which quickly morphed into a tight smile as he turned to Felicity, "so outside of the accidental coffee spill, how are you liking Starling so far?"

Felicity shrugged, "haven't really been sightseeing yet. Been busy just unpacking my stuff and moving in, I just have one more day before I officially start work but I only have half my boxed unpacked."

Tommy eyed his friend giving him a wink before he turned back to Felicity, "why don't Jonas and I help you, unpack that is. It's the least we can do after Jonas attacked you," at Oliver's protest, 'okay maybe attack is a strong word, but really we didn't have anything planned anyway."

At Felicity's skeptical look, "I promise, we are upstanding citizens of Starling. Nice, run of the mill, average blokes, what do you say?"

Still Felicity hesitated, she didn't know them and it was just right for her to do so. Although they did look harmless enough, Tom with his blond hair and nice smile had lent her his jacket. Jonas was a little bigger than Tom but he also looked nerdy with his glasses and brown hair, he had sort of like a Clark Kent look going for him which was kind of hot, Felicity thought for a moment before she refocused on the conversation.

"I guess it's fine. I do need able men to do some heavy lifting, thanks." Felicity agreed reluctantly.

In the end, the three of them walked the two blocks. Both Tommy and Oliver wanted their cover identities to be consistent so they left their car in front of the coffee shop with the plan to come back for them later on.

It turns out that Felicity's new digs was actually a tiny two story two-bedroom townhouse that still had a few more boxes where the living room was supposed to be.

"Great then! Since Jonas here was responsible for the coffee fiasco earlier, he gets to do the box lifting to the second floor, and I take care of unpacking here," gesturing around the living and kitchen areas.

Felicity looked at both the guys before shrugging, "the boxes are marked," pointing to the twelve boxes still for unpacking. "One for the kitchen, one for the living room, four marked bedroom and the last four marked computers, the boxes marked bedroom go up, so do the boxes marked computer which go in the second bedroom. Oh Jonas," as 'Jonas' started to sort out the boxes, "the boxes marked computer all go to the last back room upstairs, everything else goes to the bedroom upfront," biting her lip as she notices 'Jonas' struggling with a heavy box marked computer.

Tommy noticed Felicity's look and after curbing the urge to snicker, schooled his features and turned to Felicity giving her a serious face, "so I get the easy part, living room and kitchen? Let's start with the kitchen then."

"Not so fast Tom," Oliver emphasized the name, "Felicity goes with me, it's only fair since it looks like we are starting to set-up the upstairs from scratch."

Tommy gave his friend a wink that Felicity missed, "fine, anything to help a brother out."

Felicity had carried a lighter weighing box also marked computer as she gestured for Oliver to follow her upstairs before glancing back at Tom, "you'll be okay down here while we take care of the upstairs?"

"No worries Felicity, I'll be fine down here. You do have cable on your TV right?"

Felicity gave Tom a smile of accomplishment, "yeah, cable and wifi are the first things I took care of," gesturing around, "just find your way around."

"Will do," giving Felicity a cheeky salute and Oliver another wink.

As Felicity and Oliver reached the second floor, Felicity directed Oliver to the back, "I'll be with you in a few minutes, I just have to change," gesturing to her spoiled blouse before striding off toward another door that Oliver supposed was her bedroom.

Oliver walked all the way to the back room before he placed the heavy box down on the floor and was about to do the same with Felicity's discarded smaller box left in her hallway before his sight was drawn to a movement. Felicity's bedroom door was slightly ajar offering him a sneak inside. But what had taken Oliver's attention was Felicity with her back to him now shirtless in her bra bent over as if in search for a shirt to wear.

Her slow and deliberate act, putting on a replacement shirt unaware of a presence spying on her had Oliver in a trance like state, unable to pull his whole being from what he was witnessing. All his senses were aware and alive which was really unlike him. It would take a lot to arouse every single of Oliver Queen's senses used as he was to half or even fully naked women parading before him to grab his attention. While he had enjoyed the sex, he treated most couplings as stress relievers or even as conquests. It was uncalled for, for one Oliver Queen to be senselessly overwhelmed by a woman after the deed was done, maybe his 'Jonas' persona just needed to get it on with this woman.

The sudden yell of 'Tom' from below both caught the attention of Oliver and Felicity, with Felicity quickly finishing putting on her shirt still unaware of her audience giving Oliver the opportunity to recover by going back to his originally intended task of lifting the small box and bringing it to the back room.

Felicity had finally opened her bedroom door and spotted Oliver with his back to her in the process of putting down her small box of computer hardware when she interrupted him, "hey, you okay there, with the lifting duties?"

Oliver gave her a faint smile, still trying to recover his equilibrium before answering her, "yeah, nothing I can't handle."

In the end, Tommy and he had done the task of lifting and helping unpack some boxes leaving Felicity the remaining task of unpacking her bedroom boxes before they left her with a promise, mostly Tommy's doing to meet up for coffee the next weekend in the same coffee shop.

* * *

Oliver hated Monday mornings especially when everyone else was chirpy and hyper, looking forward to a full work week. He had come in at nine in the morning and according to the schedule his assistant had given him for the day, he was assigned the task of welcoming the new batch of employees for the quarter of QC.

So after a quick scan of his others meeting schedules for the day, he dutifully went down four floor to the Human Resource Department, pass the mass of people and went directly inside the office of the head of the department who had stood up immediately and gestured to him that they would be on their way.

As Oliver entered the training room after a short AVP about QC which all new employees were required to view as part of their first day, Oliver Queen was introduced by one of the HR employees to officially welcome the new hires. Oliver had his standard speech ready, having done the task thrice already. He had started his usual speech before until midway when he started to pan the faces of the twenty something new hires and spotted a familiar face which made him freeze, faltering for a few seconds before he recovered and moved on remembering that she had no idea who he was since he was in disguise at the time they had met as 'Jonas'.

Now finished with his speech and in the middle of congratulating the new batch of employees and in the process of giving each new employee a handshake without really lingering too much, he was finally face to face with Felicity who had her name tag on her with her name spelled out, Felicity Meghan Smoak. He gave her an extra warm smile and took a few seconds longer to shake her hand and utter, "welcome Felicity, I hope we here at QC meet your expectations."

"Expectations?" Felicity asked him, her expression a mix of confused and excited.

"You are a new graduate. This is your first job right? From what I gathered from the bios of new hires," which he gestured to in his hand, "you are not only an MIT graduate, but also the top of your class. QC is fortunate to have someone like you joining us. Personally, I hope you find a home with us."

Felicity was now flustered by the attention she was getting from the Vice President of QC and apparently the son of the owner. The, heir to the Queen fortune including QC, "oh, thank you. I…thank you," was all that came out of her mouth.

Oliver reluctantly let go of her hand and gave her a last smile before he went about congratulating the rest of the batch but his eye was drawn back to Felicity every few seconds until the attention of every one was requested by the head of HR again.

* * *

"Tommy, you wouldn't believe it!" Oliver told Tommy as he sauntered back to his office, calling his friend on his phone.

"Good Morning to you too, what's gotten you in an obviously good mood today?" Tommy inquired.

"Felicity, you know Felicity from yesterday. She's here, today is her first day," Oliver told his friend.

Tommy could feel the excitement of Oliver even through the phone, "man, you got it bad."

"She didn't recognize me," Oliver shared.

"Of course she wouldn't, duh! We were in disguise as ordinary everyday dudes. Wait, did you want her to recognize you?" Tommy asked.

"No," Oliver said quickly, "no," he repeated more slowly now.

"I think you my friend, have a crush on someone. Someone named Felicity. Bummer then that 'Jonas' has a head start on you, and don't even try to deny it. I saw the looks man. Looks like you're competing with yourself. I reckon she had a thing for 'Jonas', it was after all a one for the books meeting, you spilling coffee on her."

"Tommy, be serious for a minute."

"I am man. I'm being perfectly serious and sensible. Felicity looks like she's a girl who would readily fall for someone like 'Jonas'. She's not like all the girls we are used to, this one's different. Billionaire playboys wouldn't exactly be her cup of tea if you get my drift. Besides, we have a date with Felicity for this weekend. Keep it in your pants for a few more days."

Oliver groaned before he spotted his assistant gesturing for him to move faster as his next meeting was already waiting for him inside his office, "have to go, talk to you later."

* * *

Oliver could help it. She was just someone he couldn't get out of his head even after a good night sleep. Taking note of Tommy's advice about Felicity seemingly not being the type to be easily blinded by his usual tricks as a billionaire, Oliver decided to approach this another way, an unconventional way, by hiding behind anonymity, as her secret admirer.

His first task, having a plant, a fern delivered to her desk by a delivery man. He figured flowers from an unknown person were a little bit stalkerish. At least as an introduction, so he settled for something more original, a fern. At least that was the advice of the flower shop attendant. He didn't even know they sold those in shops.

He had given very specific instructions, they were to arrive at her desk before 8 in the morning with a simple note, 'Have a nice day!" with the simple 'O' written at the bottom. Oliver figured a single letter was innocent enough. It could never be traced back to him, at least not without a lot of other clues which he planned out in his head.

This was definitely a first for him.

* * *

Felicity had arrived very early that morning surprised that someone or something had arrived before her, in the middle of her desk to be exact. She took the last few steps to check it out. It was a plant, maybe QC gave out plants to each employee. But a quick glance around told her, they did not as all other desks lack a shade of green.

She cautiously put down her bag and neared her table noting that the plant thing looked like…was it a fern? She would have to research that later. She plucked the small card, glancing around again just in case it was a punk, and she was the victim of a welcome joke. Slowly opening the card she read it, "Have a nice day!" it read with an O in the bottom right of the card. What did O mean?

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**WHAT DO YOU THINK?**


	2. Chapter 2

**Author's Note: Just wanted to greet everyone a Happy New Year and hope you enjoy this short chapter.**

**Oh, this is an AU story. Oliver is not the Arrow. Robert Queen is alive. No Gambit. And i do not own Arrow. **

**Twitter - lollipopsays**

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**Ao3 - lollipopdiaries**

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**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 2**

It was Saturday. Felicity had made it through her first two weeks at Queen Consolidated.

In fact, she was quite proud of what she had accomplished during her first two weeks impressing her supervisor. Impress was such a mild word considering her supervisor after the first two times he had raised his brows at her brazen contradiction of his systems had proved not only to him but to his immediate supervisor that indeed the firewalls were not impenetrable, had all but requested her to look over all the previous programs to give her recommendations on necessary changes, upgrades or even rewrites.

She had quickly become the go to girl in the IT department. Now even the EVP of QC, Walter Steele had known who she was, greeting her by her first name. Quite a feat considering there were about eight hundred employees in QC. Some of whom had been with the company for more than twenty years and have yet to be recognized by any of the senior executives of QC.

Of course it had helped that Felicity was pushed forward by the head of the department. That meant the supervisor of her supervisor's supervisor, four ranks up, AVP of the IT department had put his trust and confidence in her.

Friday, the day the IT and Applied Sciences had earmarked weekly briefings with the senior executives of QC, which meant Robert Queen, Chairman &amp; CEO, Walter Steele, EVP &amp; COO and Oliver Queen, VP and head of New Business Groups which IT including Applied Sciences and Partnerships &amp; Acquisitions fell under were all present.

The head of the IT department had asked her to present a short brief on her findings regarding the security of QC firewalls and improvements. Her presentation which the IT head introduced as a two-minute bullet presentation turned into a two-hour presentation as she demonstrated how quickly anyone could breach the firewalls and capture information as well as plant viruses and trojans in what was supposed to be a very secure server. She was then asked her opinions and recommendations regarding the how and what to do to ensure that QC is protected from highly skilled techs much like herself and after getting the cue from the head of IT, she launched into several scenarios and recommendations that had Robert Queen and Walter Steele both looking at one another with tempered grins both reaching for the file the head of IT had provided them regarding one Ms. Felicity Meghan Smoak.

In the end, Robert and Walter had both requested Felicity to present her recommendations in detail for protocols regarding how to secure information best for the next briefing acknowledging the eye for spotting talent of the head of IT.

Robert Queen was a seasoned CEO therefore he could multi-task very well including give his full attention to someone making a presentation and at the same time observe everyone else's reaction or lack of it to a person or topic. Having been with the company for quite some time now, Robert was proud to know that despite the Board of Directors and senior executives earlier apprehension, Oliver Queen had more than proved that he had the aptitude to start were he did as VP of QC, a position created specifically for him as heir and future commander-in-chief of QC, his legacy.

However, during the meeting, Robert had noticed his son while paying attention to the presentation, was also unusually quiet, gazing in full attention at the speaker although Robert had the suspicion that words had probably flown by his son as Oliver looked at Felicity in rapt concentration.

Robert just shook his head at this observation. While his son has moved on from his player reputation during his younger years, the perception still lingered. It was the one thing that he hoped his son could eventually mature from.

Looking at Ms Smoak once again and giving her a subtle once over, he was almost sure that she was not the usual type her son went for. Given her profile which he had just read through, she seemed the more serious, determined type who had all her energies focused on her career rather than distractions like, well casual relationships. She seemed like an all or nothing kind of girl, which was the complete opposite of were his son was at the moment.

While Robert never interfered in his sons 'relationships', he had warned his son that QC employees were off limits. He never knew if Oliver had ever heeded that warning and given his observation earlier, he hoped his son kept away from Ms Smoak who potentially had a very bright future in QC.

* * *

Felicity had been intrigued by 'O' no doubt. Specially because her 'secret admirer' had now dropped two more 'gifts' at QC this time using couriers to deliver his surprises. She had tried and was successful in hacking the systems of the courier companies her admirer had used but it had provided dead end information. He had used random pick-up addresses and had successfully masked his identity which frustrated Felicity no end.

One thing she had always appreciated was a good mystery, but after two weeks, the initial charm of having a secret admirer was quickly frustrating her.

This coupled with the fact that Jonas was on her mind, and had been on her mind the whole week, had her feeling a bit odd. There was something about Jonas that was familiar and at the same time strange.

As was previously set, Jonas and Tom had met her last Saturday at this same coffee shop but while Tom had been steadily open and had kept up a running commentary about everything and anything, Jonas had been suspiciously quiet and reserved. He also had been giving her quiet glances when he thought she wasn't looking.

It was hard to reconcile the fact that apparently Jonas and Tom were actually best friends considering they gave off the vibe that they were complete opposites. Tom was outgoing and the life of the party type, Jonas was more the broody and quiet type. The same type Felicity actually went for.

Felicity had shared stories about her first week in QC with them but it was only when Felicity was finally at home, along, sitting on her couch that she realized that both Tom and Jonas had kept off the topic of what they did and instead talked about Starling city and their growing up antics.

While Tom was attractive and appealing in his own right. Felicity had no doubt that she was attracted to Jonas. Not only because even in clothes, it looked like he had the better body but it was his quiet demeanor that got to her. Felicity could go a day with very minimum words, content to just quietly waste a day away with only her tablet as her companion.

There was definitely something about Jonas, something she could not quite get her finger on, but it felt like it was right there, starring her in the face. She had crunched her brows together in concentration and maybe spent too much seconds lingering.

Because she had noticed that Tom had suddenly become silent, at least for a few seconds, looking between his friend and her, as if realizing something before he gave her a wink.

That wink from Tom had sent her on a tailspin. What had Tom concluded from looking between his friend and her, whatever it was, it was enough for Tom to make up and excuse that he had to leave abruptly, promptly leaving his friend and her alone in the coffee shop but not before he gave her another wink.

With Tom's departure, conversation had stalled between Jonas and her. It was funny how they both knew that they gave each other lingering looks then looked away before the other looked back.

After thirty more minutes of abruptly started and ended conversations, Jonas had gotten a call then stood up to say he had to go leaving her alone in the coffee shop.

They had not made any commitment to each other to meet up for next Saturday, which was this one so she wasn't really expecting to see him or Tom although she hoped that they more like Jonas would make an appearance.

So when Felicity had lingered for more than three hours in the coffee shop doing her own thing in her tablet with no head nor hide of either Jonas or Tom, she accepted that maybe that was it. The first two friends she had made when she had just moved into Starling city had more important things to do than make hanging out with her on a Saturday a regular thing.

* * *

Unknown to her however, Oliver and Tommy were sitting inside Tommy's porsche observing her. Oliver was torn seeing her look up everytime the door to the coffee shop would open but he heeded the advice of his best friend. Cut the ties 'Jonas' had with Felicity so they could move forward with his plans.

The second time Oliver had called Tommy on the phone, Tommy had all but laughed at his friend.

Oliver had sent Felicity a fern, a fern! Sure it was under the guise of 'secret admirer' but still a fern, Tommy would never let Oliver live that down. His friend had a thing or two to learn about how to woo a woman.

Sure, Tommy understood. Oliver, much like he didn't really need to dig deep wooing women who caught their fancy, they were after all billionaires and good looking, a deadly combination. But Tommy was all for humoring his friend. He first assumed Oliver was in one of his phases, trying something different because Felicity was different but still the intent was to get into her pants and move on.

But Oliver and his determination had surprised Tommy. His fortitude to follow through with this 'secret admirer' thing had Tommy finally realizing that there was something more to Oliver's fixation with this woman, more than just being a notch at his bedpost.

It was after that coffee date last week that Tommy had concluded that it was time to pull 'Jonas' out of the running, out of mind, out of sight, he had argued that out with Oliver, hence, the camping out inside his car outside the coffee shop.

"You really like this one," Tommy asked his friend as he looked at Felicity inside the coffee shop by herself tinkering with her tablet.

"She gave a presentation yesterday, in front of Dad and Walter Steele. In front of a lot of senior officers, and she was great. She was, wow."

"You got it bad Ollie."

"I know," ducking his head. "It's just….she's like no one I've ever met before. She's a genius, a real genius. Even Dad had told Walter that they should look out for her, that she was an asset of the company."

"Aha," Tommy eyed his friend. "You do remember that your Dad all but told you that QC is off limits."

"I don't look at her like that. I….she's different. I can't explain, but….Tommy, you're my best friend. You should be supporting me, not lecturing me."

"Ollie, I'm out here, sitting in my car, with you instead of doing a hundred other things. Now, listen to me. This secret admirer thing will blow up in your face pretty soon. You have to come clean with her. If you really like her, you have to do this right."

"I know. I know that. It's just, I'm Oliver Queen…"

"Aha, and wooing is beyond Oliver Queen. Oliver Queen is so full of himself that it is beneath him to woo a woman?"

"No. No, that's not it. I," Oliver rubbed his face, "it's just that I have a reputation. And being upfront with someone like her, you were right two weeks ago. I may not be her type at all."

"And you're throwing in the towel without even trying, is that it, Oliver Queen quitting because he's afraid of his own shadow."

"No. I'm trying to approach this differently, because Felicity is different."

Tommy eyed his friend again, starting the engine of his car. "What would you do without me Ollie. Come on, I've got an idea." Giving the woman inside the coffee shop one more look, Tommy then drove Oliver away from the coffee shop.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Notes: Here's chapter 3 of SECRET ADMIRER i hope everyone enjoys this light fluffy story.  
**

**For those following my other Olicity stories, I will be uploading new chapters before the end of the week. It has been a very hectic holiday season for me since I spent them in another country with family. Now I'm back in the land of my birth, counting the days when I will be surrounded by family again. Thank God for shows like Arrow who keep me company during those unbearable days.**

**As always, I do not own Arrow although I would like to, who wouldn't!**

**Oh by the way, anyone interested to co-write or throw around some story ideas with me? I'm down with that. You may get in touch with me through my twitter (the best contact point since I am always online) via my handle: lollipopsays. Or you can send me a PM here. Whichever works for you.**

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 3**

Felicity was perched comfortably on her couch doing her two favorite things, chugging through a pint of her mint choco chip ice cream and marathoning her favorite TV show. Her move to Starling City coupled with the hours she kept at QC, given the number of projects that had suddenly been thrust at her had left her with almost no time for anything else.

Tonight, she told herself that she would not do anything QC related and concentrate on doing her two other favorite things. Unfortunately for her that had lasted all of thirty minutes.

Usually, the Winchester brothers and the witty humor of her favorite show was enough to keep her glued to her TV set but tonight, something was bothering her. To be honest, all throughout the week something or more truthfully someone had been bothering her. She wasn't really a fan of mysteries and this was one, well two actually if she was really honest, mysteries she wanted to get at the bottom of as soon as possible.

The first one was she couldn't get over the disappointment of losing a budding friendship or even something more after the non-appearance of 'Jonas' or his friend Tom in the coffee shop. No doubt, 'Jonas' was someone she would regret not seeing again, as a friend of course, a potentially close friend, she further justified this to herself Jonas being one of two people she had first met when she moved into Starling City. He and Tom really helped make her move more bearable during a time when she had not known anyone in the City.

Two weeks after, she had made some acquaintances at work. She wouldn't consider them friends yet given the fact that no confidences had been exchanged. But she was happy that she felt accepted and was a little overwhelmed that some of her co-workers were in awe of her considering not only her notable accomplishments for the department but more importantly, because this was how big corporations worked, her co-workers gushed over the fact that she had been rubbing elbows with the owners and senior executives of the company.

Except for one or two bitter co-workers who continued to raise a brow at her, she was considered a rising superstar in their department, her achievements were the achievements of the department which was now considered as one of the most cohesive and best performing departments thanks in large part to Felicity and the support she was getting from her supervisors and peers.

The second one that was bothering her was her secret admirer. From the fern that she had gotten two weeks back, her admirer had stepped up sending her a bouquet of white camellias that had her google what they were supposed to mean, '_adorable_', after first learning this she unconsciously grinned, someone thought she was adorable!

Then a few days after, she received a dozen red carnations and a box of chocolates, nut free! Again she googled what that was supposed to mean, '_admiration_', someone admired her.

In both instances, she had been teased by her co-workers and they had even made outrageous suggestions on who her 'admirer' could be. Emily, her co-worker who had become fast friends with her had suggested that it was their supervisor who was not only single but had always seemed to be staring at her. She had even caught him frowning when he overheard one of her other co-workers suggested it could be one of the senior executives who was probably married hence hiding behind the 'secret' identity. She was after all the talk of the town in those meetings.

Felicity had even caught herself running down the faces and names of the senior executives she had encountered during her first two weeks in QC trying to look for any signs that any one of them could be her secret admirer to no avail.

For one, she never had a secret admirer hence, she didn't know what to spot. Second, it seemed too obnoxious and at the same time pompous of her to assume that any of the intelligent and well-bred accomplished gentlemen holding offices at the top floor of the building would be attracted to someone like her who in her own definition was quite ordinary. Sure, she wasn't exactly ugly looking or even unappealing, she had just like any other woman, she tried to take care of her appearance. While she probably wasn't the prettiest girl in a room, she wasn't the most unappealing one. But at the same time, she never deliberately went out to make herself standout in a crowd for her looks.

Besides, her goal wasn't to land a man for herself or even a relationship, otherwise she should have had done away with the librarian glasses and ponytail and would have gone with the hair down vampy look, a look she knew she could carry easily.

The other thing that intrigued her was that her admirer had done some research on her, it was either that or sheer luck on his part. The chocolates with nuts thing, the fact that she was allergic to nuts was not common knowledge and was not in her resume, unless someone took the trouble of looking through her medical records or employment data, which now she thought about it was a little bit stalkerish-like.

If she was honest with herself, the secret admirer thing did have its appeal. She just hoped the reveal would come soon and that she wouldn't be disappointed when it happened.

She caught herself shaking her head at the thought before she was once again pulled in by the program she was currently designing as part of the presentation she was to make for the QC board of directors.

* * *

"What the hell Tommy!" Oliver all but shouted at Tommy as he deliberately spilled coffee on his best friend's laptop.

Tommy pushed Oliver's chest gently away as his friend tried to wipe of the liquid on top of his keyboard saying, "Ollie, you would be completely useless without me. This," gesturing to the now fried laptop is your way in to one Felicity Smoak, the girl you are currently losing sleep over."

Oliver frowned at his friend, "how is destroying my laptop going to help."

Tommy shook his head, "I wonder how you ever got laid," rolling his eyes at his friend then smirking, "oh yeah. You're a billionaire and heir to a multi-billion successful company. But," shaking a finger at Oliver, "like I said, this girl, she's not like the others. Not that she's not appealing because really Ollie I've never seen you this…distraught over some girl before and well, I see the appeal, she's got brains, lots of it, she's got the body too, not that I looked," quickly backtracking as he heard a growl from Oliver, "and the girl is beautiful without even trying. Effortless," Tommy tried out the word and nodded, "yep, effortless, that's the word I was looking for. She's the type of girl that didn't even need to try. She just is."

Oliver nodded quietly with his friend's assessment. Effortless, Tommy was exactly right. And that wasn't the only think Tommy got right. Oliver was surprised by the impact this girl was having on him but wasn't given the opportunity to overanalyze this as his thoughts were interrupted by Tommy once again.

Tommy lifted the laptop then shook it a little, sending little drips of coffee to the floor. "First thing Monday, bring this to her. Tell her…..whatever, you are capable of making up an excuse. She's supposed to be the expert. This is the best way to strike up a conversation." Pumping his friends back twice before continuing, "you can thank me later. Name your first born after me," winking at his friend.

* * *

So Monday came and Felicity was once again caught up in the frenetic pace of her day that when she heard a knock on the glass of her work station she didn't even bother to look up but rather said absentmindedly, "come back later, I'm in the middle of something unless you came here to tell me that the building is burning or something like that…"

"Oh, okay."

At the tone of the voice, Felicity paused her typing, that voice was vaguely familiar looking up just as the person was turning away.

"Oh Mr. Queen, I didn't know it was you," Felicity quickly said.

Oliver did a one-eighty after that and faced her once again. "That's okay Ms. Smoak, wouldn't want to keep you from whatever it is you had your concentration on."

"Oh this," pointing to her screen of her computer, "this is me testing the new program before I present it to the board. Trying to find loopholes in the program," grabbing a red pen and biting it for a few seconds before she took down a few notes on the pad to her right and getting lost once again at what she was doing before she heard a throat clearing.

Felicity was startled before she tilted her head quickly letting her ponytail fly over her left shoulder, "sorry," biting her lip, which had Oliver silently grunting as he quickly looked away and concentrated on anything but her biting her lip. What was with this girl, Oliver asked himself.

"Mr. Queen, sorry again. I didn't mean to ignore you. Why should I, your name is on the side of this building. You are the reason I moved here." Closing her eyes at how that sounded, "not you personally. Although, many girls would probably disagree with me, not that I don't think your good looking or that I wouldn't move her or anywhere if you asked me to, oh my god." Felicity faced palmed and exhaled before starting over, "Queen Consolidated, that the reason I moved here."

Oliver was grinning widely at her babble, "that's nice to know, the part where QC was your top of mind when you decided on where to pursue a career after college, that is." Oliver clarified.

Felicity bit her lip again, and again Oliver was silently grunting as he felt something starting to twitch down south at her action, quickly shielding any evidence by strategically placing the laptop in front of him, "what can I do for you Mr. Queen?"

Oliver pointed to the seat in front of her desk and waited for her to nod before he sat down, "Mr. Queen is my father. Call me Oliver."

Felicity raised her brow but did not comment and instead went with it. "Okay then, Oliver," trying out the name on her tongue, "what can I do for you?"

Oliver lifted the laptop that was now on his lap and sheepishly said, 'I need help recovering some files on my laptop."

Felicity frowned at Oliver before gesturing for him to hand over his laptop to her. As she opened it, she noticed the pad was still a little wet and eyed Oliver suspiciously.

"I spilled coffee, not intentionally of course. I wouldn't do that," scoffing as if it was beyond him. "I need the data recovered, and I need it done asap. There's a lot of QC data there so I thought you would be the best person to bring it to. Not only are you the best, as I remember you saying on occasion but it goes without saying there may be some confidential QC information in there too."

Halfway through Oliver's explanation Felicity had zoomed out, more horrified at the sight she was seeing. The laptop was no ordinary one, it was a top of the line model, the kind that only 1% of the 1% could afford, but since Oliver was a Queen after all, she was sure it was but a drop of the bucket for him, but still, spilling coffee on it. That was unforgivable, definitely unforgivable.

She lifted her face and gave Oliver the evil eye which had Oliver squirming, God, why did this girl have this kind of effect on him, like she could see right thru him.

"It was an accident," Oliver felt the need to explain.

"Aha."

"Yes it was. I don't even know why I am explaining myself to you," Oliver said defensively.

"I didn't ask you to explain. In fact I didn't ask you anything, at all."

"Yeah but, I could see you judging me…" he pointed at her, "with those eyes."

Felicity resisted the urge to roll her eyes in front of Oliver instead, instead got her tools and examined his laptop.

"Can, can you salvage the data?" Oliver asked a little eagerly.

Still concentrating on her task, Felicity lifted a hand and made an action for Oliver to zip it. "Don't. You wound me. Can I salvage the data? Can I salvage the data he asks, with my eyes closed Oliver. With my eyes closed. It's like a given."

"That's good to know."

"That's great to know," Felicity corrected him. "Because I'm better than good, I'm great! Oh, I said that out loud didn't I."

"And you are probably right to brag, because you're the best."

Felicity grinned, "yes I'm the best. And I'll get the data you need from this back to you by tomorrow. Is that fine?"

"It's more than fine. Are you sure it's not a bother?"

Felicity made a gesture as if waving him away, "it's nothing. You won't even have to buy me coffee or dinner for doing this. Oh," Felicity paused when she realized what she just said and her eyes bulged, "no, no. I wasn't trying to insinuate that you need to buy me coffee or dinner, or anything at all…sometimes my mouth works faster than my brain, which really should be impossible since I'm a genius and," taking a deep breath as she paused, "just forget everything I said. I'll get this done and back to you by tomorrow," her eyes firmly on the laptop refusing to look up at Oliver knowing she was probably crimson by now.

"Thank you Felicity." Standing up and went to exit her cubicle but turned back the last second, "you are remarkable. And Felicity," Oliver succeeded in making Felicity look at him, "I would like to have dinner with you, soon."

Felicity's mouth was stuck in 'O' was she followed Oliver's progress away from her work station while running back the conversation they just had in her mind. Did Oliver just say he wanted to have dinner with her…soon? Should she read anything into it? Should she even be taking what he said seriously?

* * *

**_comments or violent reactions anyone?_**


	4. Chapter 4

**_Author's Note: I Love the support for this story. I just wanted something light and fluffy since that hiatus and the angst was really getting to me. That and the fact that my other stories have somehow crossed over to angsty without me realizing it, whew…_**

**_In this chapter, if you decided to read this and not skip ahead to the chapter, Tommy is at it again, being the best wingman Oliver could ever ask for, at some point Oliver will return the favor…soon. Did I mention Sara Lance will be introduced in this chapter?_**

**_More, lots more of appreciation and respect for Felicity and her abilities in this chapter, and of course, those Olicity build-up moments._**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 4**

"She told you she wanted to have dinner with you?" Tommy repeated his question to Oliver, his brows raised.

Oliver buckled under the pressure, "ok fine. She may have babbled it unintentionally while we were conversing. But it was clearly, very clearly implied that she wasn't averse to having dinner, with me."

'Aha." Tommy's attention was fully on the tumbler in his hand containing his favorite whisky.

"That's all you're going to say, after everything I shared. You said you had my back, that you would be my wingman," Oliver sulked.

Tommy rolled his eyes at the petulant look of his best friend. "Oliver Jonas Queen, what the fuck."

Oliver banged his head on the counter of the bar repeatedly, "I'm pathetic."

Tommy patted his friends back in solemn support, "hey, she did say she would get your laptop back to you tomorrow right?" Tommy gave him a thoughtful expression, "take the opportunity to invite her to dinner then. You know, if I didn't have the fear that she would immediately put two and two together if I suddenly appeared in your office and be my usual cheeky self, I'd swing by. But I think 'Tom'," saying his pseudo name in quotation marks, "would probably do you more harm than good right now if she realized Tom and Tommy Merlyn where one and the same person since your relationship, or lack of it at this point really is quite fragile. That's what you get for falling for girls with brains man, nothing gets past them. If something does, eventually it will catch up with you."

Oliver drowned the remainder of his drink, "now you are scaring me."

"No, now I'm being a true friend. Telling you exactly what you need to hear. Invite her to dinner, or maybe lunch. It's safer, more probable that she would accept lunch. Lunch means friendzone, dinner…well, most of the time, it means something else."

"But I don't want to be just her friend."

Tommy rolled his eyes once again, "all I'm saying is, take it slower than usual. She's an employee of QC, no matter how indispensable she may be at the moment. She is still technically under your payroll. Hey, I'm with you on this one. You have my vote when it comes to Felicity, I like her too, just not the way that you obviously do."

"Lunch. Check."

"Now come on, you and your relationship drama are giving me a king size headache. Let's get out of here and find me a girl. I need my wingman," Tommy told Oliver with a bright smile.

* * *

Felicity had intended to drop of Oliver Queen's laptop at his office then head out for lunch hence she had his laptop on one hand and her phone and wallet on the other as the elevator door opened to the executive office.

And as if the God's were playing with her, Oliver Queen together with Walter Steele and Robert Queen were congregating in the lobby. Did she just use the word congregating? The three men were actually in deep discussion in the lobby and apparently the ping of the elevators doors opening had distracted them enough to pause and glance at the door causing Felicity to buckle in her steps, now a little flustered at the attention she was getting.

"Ms. Smoak, what brings you here?" Walter gave her a smile as he gently asked.

"Oh, I um. Oliver. That's Mr. Queen sorry. He asked me to salvage some information from his laptop," indicating the laptop tucked under her arm.

Oliver moved forward and approached her while explaining to his father and Walter what happened, "I spilled coffee on my laptop and the thing just shutdown. I asked Felicity for help on recovering some data since I don't have backups of some of the files there."

Robert gave her a genuine smile, "and it looks like you were successful Ms. Smoak."

Felicity grinned, "this fingers," gesturing to her fingers, "can work magic…with computers. Yes computers. That was what I was referring too," Felicity finished blushing profusely.

"Dad, Walter, if you'll excuse us." Oliver nodded to the two men then gently took the laptop off Felicity's arm and started to escort her to his office placing a hand to the small of her back.

"Oliver," his father called out to him, "will you be joining us for lunch?"

Oliver quickly glanced at Felicity before returning his glance to his father, "I think I'll pass. I'm thinking of inviting Felicity out for lunch, you know for fixing my laptop so quickly," gesturing toward his laptop.

"Oh no no, that's not necessary. I was heading out to lunch after I dropped off your laptop," telling Oliver, "you don't have to, a thank you would be fine. I wouldn't want to take you away from your lunch meeting or whatever." Felicity stepped back from Oliver and was preparing to walk away which now sent Oliver panicking slightly although he tried his best not to show it as his father and Walter were present.

Thankfully his dad had a good save, Robert and Walter looked at one another then Robert called out, "I tell you what, why don't you join the three of us for lunch Ms. Smoak," Robert told Felicity.

Reading Felicity's expression of reluctance correctly Robert continued, "you wouldn't say no to me, would you Ms. Smoak."

Caught with no room for escape Felicity had no choice but to agree, "oh, are….are you sure. I don't want to mess with your plans."

"I think between Walter, my son and I, we would never turn down an opportunity to have lunch with someone like you. Seriously, we want you to feel at home and valued in QC."

"Oh." Looking back at Oliver who gave her an encouraging smile, she slowly nodded.

"Great then," Robert gave her a genuine smile.

"Let me just put this in my office," Oliver gestured to the laptop.

As Oliver walked back out of his office he was between giddy and peeved. Giddy because he was having lunch with Felicity, a little peeved that his father and Walter were also part of the lunch, hence what could have been a relaxing getting to know you lunch shared by two had the potential to turn into a business lunch knowing that both Walter and his father would indeed take the opportunity to further quiz Felicity about her thoughts on improvements within QC.

But Oliver straightened his shoulders. He would take any opportunity he could get to be with Felicity. This was just another road block in his plans.

* * *

Surreal, that's was what Felicity defined her experience as, lunching with Robert and Oliver Queen and Walter Steele. CEO/Chairman, VP and EVP of QC, the company she worked for as a lowly, by her definition again, grunt worker. Normal circumstances would never, ever put her in the peripheral of this high profile owners and executives. But, things have been weirdly happening in the last few weeks to her that had brought her to a point were having lunch with these men was like a normal affair for her.

It wasn't even strange that some of the other senior executives have stopped by their table and greeted her by her first name and had made small conversation with her, a lowly two-week old employee of QC.

The lunch itself was bizarre, both Walter and Robert, who she had realized were actually quite close friends, the best of friends actually from way back in college had made her as comfortable as could be. Engaging her in and out of her inputs about QC and balancing that off with some personal life questions like they really wanted to get to know more about her.

Oliver for his part was content to see to it that she wasn't lacking in anything, calling the attention of the waiter more than once to refill her glass of water, ordering her coffee and helping her select her lunch course.. He rarely asked questions or even attempted to converse with her and on more than one occasion Felicity caught him staring at her with a thoughtful expression.

She was a little flustered that Oliver Queen had never removed his hand from the small of her back from the time they entered the elevator to depart QC until they reached the restaurant and that he did it again in reverse, from the restaurant back to QC and even going as far as to personally escort her all the way to her work station getting her looks and oohs from her co-workers in the process. Oliver Queen was just being a gentleman. It was part of his training. He grew up in this environment. Felicity had to remind herself more than once.

But before Oliver had stepped out of her work station, he reminded her that he still owed her dinner. And he would collect soon. And that the lunch they had did not cancel out the dinner he had promised her.

What. The. Hell. Felicity was running those three words in a loop in her mind the remainder of the afternoon effectively breaking her concentration at her task on hand.

Just as she was done for the day and shutting off her computers, she landed on a thought. Could Oliver Queen be her secret admirer? As quickly as that thought occurred, she abandoned it. He was Oliver Queen after all, ladies man, heir, billionaire…no, it was not probable. In fact, it was impossible.

* * *

It was now Thursday, the day before she was to make her presentation to the senior executives of QC. Thank God her supervisor, who she slightly believed to be her secret admirer, had assigned two other staff to help her, Emily being one of the two.

They were in the middle of finalizing the presentation when her phone rang. Felicity immediately grabbed her phone to check who was calling her.

Sara Lance.

She gave an unconscious smile as she answered, "well, well, well Sara. How's life?"

"Life is good my friend and it will even get better with my news!" Sara told Felicity excitedly.

"You met the man of your dreams?" Felicity quickly answered her friend with a question.

Sara scoffed, "have not, although maybe Starling will be the city for me to meet him."

"You're coming for a visit?" Felicity asked her excited once again.

"Not quite."

"Oh" Felicity said deflated.

"Better actually…I got a job. Remember I applied at that Advertising and PR firm the same time you applied at QC?"

"Yeah," Felicity answered her tentatively afraid to get her hopes up suddenly.

"Well…"

"Well what Lance. I swear…"

"They called back. They want me to start in two weeks!"

Both Felicity and Sara screamed, Felicity realizing belatedly that she was in the office and mouthed a sorry to anyone within hearing distance of her scream.

"So we celebrate tomorrow night, Friday!"

"That's kind of going to be difficult because you are there and I am here," Felicity reminder her friend, always the more logical one of the two.

"That's my other news, I'll be there very early tomorrow, have to come in and do some pre-employment requirements."

"You're kidding."

"I kid you not. It will be just like old times, you and me hitting the town and painting it pink."

"Just like old times, can't wait."

"See 'ya tomorrow Smoak. Oh, I can bunk in with you tomorrow night right?"

"You can bunk in with me anytime Lance, you know I have the space."

* * *

"Trust you to find the most crowded Club and insist on it," Felicity shook her head at her friend while looking around the interiors of the Club. Definitely this was one of the, if not the hottest Clubs in Starling. Although this was Sara's turf not really hers.

"Verdant," Sara gestured around, "you should be proud of me. I trusted google when they said this was THE Club to be seen in Starling City. Now come on, let's dance. We didn't get all dressed up to be wallflowers!" Sara started to pull her toward the dance floor but someone blocked Felicity's path suddenly.

"Felicity?" Oliver had a scrunched expression on his face.

"Oliver, hi." Sara was forced to let go of Felicity's hand and take two steps back to check why Felicity had stopped since it was too crowded for her to notice what the holdup was from where she was.

"Felicity, what are you doing here?" Oliver asked her.

"She is here because this is the hottest Club in Starling and we are going to have the time of our life tonight," Sara answered for her while eying Oliver from head to foot before turning her head to Felicity in question.

"Sara, this is Oliver. Oliver Queen. I work in QC his family's company, He's one of the VPs there," Felicity quickly explained to Sara while introducing them to one another. "Oliver, this is Sara, Sara Lance my best friend."

"I didn't know your best friend was based here in Starling?" Oliver asked frowning as if it was a major boo boo on her part not to mention it.

"She's not, from here, she's from back home. But she will be moving here in two weeks, she just got a job here. So we are celebrating the fact that we both have jobs and are going to be calling Starling City home."

Oliver broke out a wide smile at the news, "then this is the place to celebrate, welcome to Verdant."

"Hey man, don't hog the ladies to yourself, specially the beautiful ones," Tommy gave his best friend a look recognizing Felicity from way across the floor and quickly traversing his way through the dance floor crowd to get into the action between Oliver and Felicity at the same time reminding himself that Felicity wasn't suppose to know him.

Oliver gave Tommy a look in return that was caught by both Felicity and Sara who also gave each other a look.

"Tommy Merlyn," Tommy stretched his hand out first at Felicity who promptly introduced herself then her friend. "Friends of yours Oliver?" Tommy gave Oliver the brow treatment.

Oliver crunched his lips at Tommy before he turned back to Felicity and her friend Sara but not before positioning himself firmly beside Felicity and subtly laying his hand on the small of her back, "Felicity is a co-worker. We work together at QC, one of our youngest and brightest. Sara is her best friend."

"Best friends," Tommy lingered on the word, "just like this guy and me. Known each other almost all our lives, I bet both of you have been best friends forever." Tommy was his most charming self.

"Like sisters." Sara answered simply.

"Like sisters," Tommy looked at Oliver again before turning back to the girls. "Your first time inside Verdant?"

"Yeah," both Felicity and Sara answered excitedly.

Tommy grinned like he had something up his sleeve, "then you girls deserve the VIP treatment. VIP room is up there," pointing to a stairway that had a bouncer at the foot of the stairs.

"Oh, no. no, no. I'm sure the owners have strict rules for that, gate crashing and all."

"Actually, I know firsthand that they do. But since the owners insist on giving you girls the VIP treatment, and by owners I mean Oliver here and myself, I hope you won't make us beg for the pleasure of having your company with us tonight."

Felicity looked at Oliver, "you own the Club," then encompassing Tommy in her next question, "both of you?"

Oliver gave her a sheepish grin then nodded before Sara took over and said, "we would never turn down VIP treatment!" then led the way to the stairway closely followed by Tommy then Oliver and Felicity side by side as Oliver refused to remove his hand from her back.

* * *

_First to clarify, Sara Lance is not from Starling City. No Laurel Lance in the picture whether in Oliver's past or in Starling. Detective Lance might make an appearance later in this story as himself, meaning Sara's Dad but he and the family are all based back home in Felicity and Sara's hometown. This is an AU story after all. We can create our own realities._

_You know the drill guys.  
_


	5. Chapter 5

**_Author's Note: Things will significantly move forward for Oliver and Felicity in this chapter. _**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

**_Would appreciate comments and reviews here. Or you can give me instant love via any of the following:_**

**_My twitter account - lollipopsays (i do a lot of interactions here)  
_**

**_Tumblr - everythinglollipop_**

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 5**

"Oliver Queen," Sara said his name just as Felicity appeared from her bedroom apparently she had just woken up. Sara for her part had been up and about for more than an hour having to catch the train to head back home.

"What about him,' Felicity mumbled as she flopped down on her couch unladylike.

"Really, this is me Felicity, your best friend! That disinterested attitude will not work on me, I know you better. When were you going to tell me that you knew Oliver Queen and that the two of you were at the prelude to a relationship stage?"

"Prelude to what? It's too early in the morning to have this conversation Sara."

Sara had brought two cups of steaming coffee with her, brought them down on top of the table in front of Felicity before she flopped down beside her friend.

"Two weeks Felicity, two weeks, that is all it took for you to snag a man. And not just any man mind you, Oliver Queen, billionaire brat, handsome, perfect," Sara started to rattle of Oliver's assets, "playboy, renowned one-night stander," Sara scrunched her nose, "wait, you and he hadn't, didn't…..?"

"What Sara? No! He's my boss, well the boss of the boss of my boss or something like that. His family owns the company I work for, so no, ewww!"

Sara eyed Felicity, "the ewww is a little on the dramatic side. I didn't see you doing any ewwing last night, In fact, it look suspiciously like Mr. Queen was trying to keep you all to himself last night. There is something there, and I'm the girl to get to the bottom of it."

Felicity took a long sip of coffee before she answered, "what about you and Tommy Merlyn. You know Tommy is another one of those playboy billionaire brats, maybe even worst that Oliver."

"Defending Oliver already, I see. Well, I'll give it to the guy, his eye didn't stray the whole time you where beside him. I'd say the guy was smitten. So tell me, when are you going to see him again."

Felicity leaned her head back not really in the mood for twenty questions, "Monday."

Sara grinned, "I knew it, there was something. Really Monday, he didn't even let a week pass."

Felicity rolled her eyes at her friend, "Monday is the first day of the working week, hence I will probably see him in the office. We both work at Queen Consolidated, I told you that already."

Sara's grin dropped, "oh. There's something you're not telling me, aren't you. What happened last night? You know when I was busy on the dance floor and you were alone with Oliver in that big, big red couch."

"Nothing!"

"That's a noticeable ten decibel increase in your normal voice pitch. Ergo you are hiding something from me. I know you better than you know yourself Smoak."

Felicity huffed, "I don't know what to say or even how to read what was happening last night. This is so not something I'm used to and you know that Sara."

"So he did some moves last night. Come on, tell me. I'm Sara, your all knowing best friend. I can spot a guy's intentions a mile away. That's why I've got this vibe from him. I tell you there is something there."

Felicity finally faced Sara on the couch, "okay I'm only telling you this because it has been messing with my head. Last Thursday, Oliver and I had lunch."

Sara's eyes almost bulged out of her face at what Felicity, tempted to tell her she knew there was something there but wanted her friend to finish with her story she remained quiet.

Felicity was shaking her head as she continued, "it's not a lunch date _date, _not like that at all. I mean, Oliver's dad and the CFO of Queen Consolidated were both present so no, not a date."

"Oh," was all Sara could say but she gestured for her friend to continue.

"Oliver, he…I don't know how to describe it. He was….attentive," Felicity used the word tentatively. Sara's face showed she was confused.

"Attentive, you know like. Helping me with my lunch order, asking me every so often what I wanted, getting me coffee, escorting me back to my table, constantly touching," Felicity scrunched her nose, "although maybe that was my imagination or maybe not because I sure felt his hand at my back. And last night…"

"Yes?" Sara crossed her legs Indian style to get more comfortable as she faced her friend excitedly.

"He was even more so….attentive I mean. I don't know how to read these things. No, that's not true," shaking her head, "if I wanted to read something into it then I'd say there was something there, something that should tell me he was interested in me, but I don't know Sara, I really don't know. For all I know, he just might be that way because in his Dad's words, I'm an asset to the company, so….attentive," Felicity finished shrugging.

Sara exhaled heavily, "I can tell you one thing, I don't know about the lunch thing or how you even managed to have lunch with the owners of the company you work with, if I remember right Queen Consolidated has more than a thousand employees. That is something that we have to talk about another time. But the thing I want us to focus on is Oliver Queen and his intentions. I think you are right to read something into it, I think, there is something there. And as your best friend, I'd say, way to go!"

Moving closer to Felicity, Sara held her hand before continuing, "but at the same time, we both know the guy has a reputation and as happy as I am for you we don't know what the guys intention is and it's my duty to remind you what you may me getting into with a guy like him."

"I know. That's why I've decided to steer clear of him. I don't need any distractions right now, I have a job that I love and despite the progress I have made there, there's more I want to do, much more. There also is you Sara, you will be moving here. Those are going to keep me busy, very busy. No time for anything else," Felicity justified her decision to herself and to her friend.

Sara eyed her skeptically, "Felicity, if the guy is genuine about his intentions, you should at least give him a chance."

""Let's see Sara. Let's just leave it for the moment. So, what time are you supposed to be leaving?"

"I have an hour before I have to catch the train," Sara said looking at the kitchen wall clock.

Felicity stood up, "ok let me get changed, let grab a proper breakfast then I'll take you to the train station."

* * *

Now that Sara was not distracting her, Felicity had her thoughts wander back to last night at the Club.

Sara was right about one thing. Oliver never left her side last night. In fact, she felt like Oliver's world revolved around her the night that way he acted which was really something she was confused about. She wasn't ready to share that bit with Sara just yet.

The VIP area really was a VIP area. It was overlooking the very crowded dancefloor but had afforded the occupants the privacy needed designed as they were as alcoves. The one that the four of them had occupied was one of the smaller ones.

Sara and Tommy had carried the bulk of the conversation back and forth, Sara telling them about her new job and about some of the antics Felicity and she had done in the past and Tommy reciprocating and sharing Oliver and his escapades.

Felicity could see that her friend has been enjoying the banter with Tommy. A couple of times Felicity had to take pause because there was something familiar about Tommy, his gestures, his manner that she just couldn't place but mostly, her attention was on the man beside her who once again was content to just let his friend take the lead and just inserted a comment here and there from time to time.

Despite Oliver not really being into the ongoing conversations, Felicity could feel Oliver the whole night. Whether by design or unconsciously he had been tracing patterns of circles and lines across her lower back. Again, he had been the perfect host making sure she had a drink on hand but he really didn't go any further than that until she noticed a very subtle signal between Oliver and Tommy, then Tommy abruptly asked Sara to dance effectively leaving her alone with Oliver.

Felicity wasn't really sure if this was a well choreographed things Oliver and Tommy did regularly not wanting her thoughts to go somewhere she wasn't prepared. Oliver's voice cutting through her thoughts, an answer to exactly what she was thinking had her a little uneven.

"Felicity, don't think too hard," his fingers suddenly smoothening the worry lines that appeared on her forehead when she was thinking too hard. "Yes, I gave Tommy the signal to leave us for a bit, it wasn't like he didn't want equal time alone with your friend. Truthfully, you being here is a surprise. We, Tommy and I usually spend Friday and Saturday nights here, those nights being the nights the Club is fully packed. We like to be on hand just in case."

Oliver partially turned to her, "it's a very pleasant surprise, you being here. And just so that my intentions are clear, all I want is time alone with you to get to know more about Felicity Smoak. And no, this is not the dinner I owe you. That is still on, for another day."

"I don't know exactly what else there is for you to know. You know I work at QC. Sara has been enthralling you with parts of my wild years. You know that I just moved here. I'm not really very interesting."

Oliver looked at her in disbelief, "you don't really believe that."

Felicity looked at Oliver frowning, "no, I actually do. True, in College I was considered a superstar but me and computers, we understand each other. Outside of that, I'm well just plain me."

The corners of Oliver's mouth lifted, "Well as plain as you make yourself out to be, I actually think there is more, much more about Felicity Smoak to discover."

He started to break the ice by telling her about why he and Tommy decided to open the Club despite both of them being heavily involved in their parent's respective companies. Soon enough, she found herself enjoying the time alone with Oliver. Not really noticing that Sara and Tommy hadn't returned yet.

"So how did you get into computers? I bet the fascination started at a young age," Oliver guessed.

"Yeah, it's a long story and," Oliver noticed the change in Felicity, "one that I don't really want to get into tonight," finished by giving him a forced smile.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to make you sad," Oliver's apology was sincere.

Felicity gave him a small but sincere smile in return, "don't worry about it. Sara and Tommy have been gone for some time," Oliver noted the topic change and went with it at the same time berating himself, they were doing very well until he brought up her childhood. There was something there, something that obviously hurt her.

"They are probably still dancing. Would you, like to dance?" Oliver asked her tentatively, now a little more cautious with her.

* * *

Felicity arrived at her desk early Monday morning to two noticeable things, first was a bouquet of baby pink roses the other was a wrapped package. She went with the more obvious one first, the card on the bouquet, opening it, she was surprised then again not so much that the flowers had come from Oliver Queen with a simple message saying "_Dinner on Friday_?", to which she just shook her head.

She placed the flowers to the side of her desk, as subtle as possible to avoid the teasing that was to come later in the day when her co-workers finally noticed the flowers. She pocketed the card quickly to ensure the note remained private, nothing like gossip in a company like Queen Consolidated.

Now her attention was on the second package, checking the package wrapped in plain brown paper noting there was nothing written on all sides, maybe it was another one from Oliver?

She methodically opened the package, removing the strings before she unwrap the brown paper. A card had fallen out, typed. '_Flowers and chocolates are a way to a girl heart but maybe this is too?_' another one signed by her secret admirer. Remembering to analyze the card and its message later on, she brought her attention back to the box, a dark cherry wood one almost the size of a shoe box except it was longer but narrower in width.

She turned the wooden box around again and shook it, something solid was inside she noted finally setting it down on her desk with the lock facing her. Taking the time to looked around the office to check if someone was spying on her first before being satisfied that there was none, she devoted her full attention now to the box, slowly her fingers unlocked the box and opened it.

Red wine, one of the more expensive brands. She loved red wine, how did anyone know she loved it. She hadn't been in Queen Consolidated or Starling City for people to know that. But how did her admirer know that about her. Felicity didn't know if now was the time she should be starting to be officially creeping out about what information her admirer had on her.

"Felicity?"

Felicity squealed and looked up, her heart beating loudly inside her chest or so she thought still in the process of calming herself when she realized someone was at the entrance of her work station cubicle and that someone was Oliver Queen.

Oliver took note of her present state immediately taking the few steps to be by her side bending one knee while his other knee took in a kneeling position as he went to grab her hands, "what's wrong?"

Felicity shook her head more to get her bearing back than anything else, "no, I. I just wasn't expecting anyone. You just startled me."

"Oh." Oliver said his face apologetic.

Felicity took a few more quick breaths before she got her breathing back to normal while Oliver still remained in his position.

"What was that…oh," Emily her friend and her nearest neighbor, occupying the work station to he left had heard her shriek and wanted to check what the noise was about but stopped at the middle of question seeing Oliver Queen bended down on one knee holding Felicity's hands.

"Oh, umm, I'm just going to go. Pretend I wasn't here. Sorry," all the time she was giving Felicity the 'what's going on' look.

"That's okay Emily, nothing's wrong. I just….spider, I thought I saw a spider," Felicity explained lamely.

"Okay whatever you say Felicity. I'll let you get back to…." eying Oliver again and her positions, "whatever," before finally leaving them.

Felicity pulled her hands from Oliver's and covered her face, "what was I thinking. What would she be thinking," finally noting Oliver's position, she pulled tried to pull him, "what are you doing there?"

Oliver frowned, "I…you…" getting up then taking a few steps back to lean on the wall ignoring what happened earlier, "I just wanted to see if you got the flowers I sent, which I now see you did," his eyes now on the bouquet of pink flowers before returning to her, "and checking if you have an answer to my question."

At Felicity's confused expression, "the card that came with the flowers?"

Felicity started to blush remembering the message, "ah yeah, yup, got it."

"And?" Oliver prodded gently.

"And," looking at Oliver who had his back on the wall casually waiting for her answer, his hands inside his pockets, "you don't really have to you know, recovering the data from the laptop wasn't really that difficult. Why don't you just promise me that you'd keep your coffee and your laptop away from each other in the future and let's call it even."

"We could," Oliver said as if giving her suggestion serious consideration, "but really, I want to have dinner, with you. Not because you fixed my laptop. But because like I said to you last Friday at the Club, I really would like to get to know you, Felicity Smoak."

"Oh."

Oliver pushed himself off the wall and walk toward Felicity once again, "I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll pick you up Friday at your place, 7pm. I know your address, human resources has it just in case you are wondering." Oliver started to trek out her work station but turned around the last second, "oh, and just so you know, this dinner is going to be the first of many."

* * *

Tommy and Oliver had arrived back at Queen Consolidated from a lunch out with Oliver in very high-spirits having just shared with Tommy the progress he had made with Felicity.

"I told you, all you had to do was get rid of Jonas and you stood a chance with her," Tommy said, "I told you I got your back man and as usual I pulled through."

Unknown to them, Felicity had just stepped out of one of the small conference rooms at the same floor, having been called in to for her inputs about a new Applied Science project in the works.

She first spotted Oliver who was smiling widely at something Tommy was saying to him, Felicity felt butterflies in her stomach seeing Oliver so light and happy. Her first instinct was to make herself known to the best friends, stepping away from the door of the conference room toward Oliver's office.

But as Felicity neared his office, she heard what Tommy has said. Wait, what about Jonas? Get rid of Jonas? Her first thought was that Oliver and Tommy had literally gotten rid of Jonas as in put him away but then everything slowly became clear to her. The familiar feeling she had with both Oliver and Tommy. The similarity in gait and body features of Oliver and Tommy with Jonas and Tom.

All in the span of a few seconds, her smile and was replaced with annoyance, that morphed into anger and was now into full blown rage. She, Felicity Smoak, top graduate of class 2009 of MIT, she was completely played by Oliver and Tommy.

Blinded by fury, her mind was going a mile a second at everything that transpired and was said between her and Oliver. He had tricked her. Somehow Oliver and Tommy has considered her fair game and had fooled her, successfully conned her into thinking Oliver really was interested in her when in truth, they were just playing with her.

Marching the last three steps to Oliver's office, Oliver spotted her first giving her a wide smile that slowly turned to dread as he correctly read her expression. She had heard what Tommy has just said.

Judging from her expression, there was no explanation in hell that he would be able to give her to appease her.

* * *

_**Can anyone guess what will happen next?**_


	6. Chapter 6

**_Author's Note: I hope Oliver doesn't sound too OOC although this is an AU story so maybe I can make him a bit OCC after all. For those who are wondering and before this story goes any further, this story is purely about Oliver Queen, no Arrow. After all, Robert Queen is alive, so there._**

**_I'm loving writing this story because as it unfolds and my fingers type away, I find myself laughing at certain parts of this chapter. But, I'm saving the best laugh toward the end of this chapter and looking forward to the next one. _**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 6**

Oliver decided a second before Felicity stepped into his office to play it cool maybe, just maybe, it wasn't bad as he thought it was. After all, this was Felicity. She didn't have a mean bone in her.

Oliver went with a smile, "hi Felicity," walking to meet her halfway, keeping distance between Tommy and himself thinking if he wasn't standing side by side with Tommy, it would better his chances.

And he was so wrong as Felicity walked past him pausing only until she was two feet away from Tommy.

Tommy for his part was looking anywhere but at Felicity. The laser beam of her glare was getting to Tommy. He wanted to give Oliver the same glare but he knew he was equally at fault. Although, if Oliver hadn't really fallen for Felicity, they wouldn't be in this situation now, so maybe it was Oliver's fault for falling for someone that wasn't his usual type. Because Felicity was the most brilliant woman of their age group that Tommy has ever met, and Tommy has met a lot of women.

Felicity's voice suddenly brought Tommy out of his thoughts.

"Tommy Merlyn or maybe I should call you Tom…." Felicity said in a controlled voice, "at the mention of 'Tom', Tommy couldn't help it he gave his best friend a look that all but said 'you are doomed!', "eyes on me, Merlyn," Felicity continued.

And Tommy had never been one for following orders but Felicity was scary when she was in a mood. Tommy reminded himself to never again get himself to a point that he would be at the other end of Felicity's wrath because Felicity was scary when she was mad.

Tommy immediately felt his gaze meet Felicity's, dammit he was a Merlyn he should have more balls than this.

Felicity took a step in front of him and leaned in, "Tommy Merlyn, you and I are going to have a talk, but not today." She stepped back and gave him a condescending pat on the shoulder, "you can go for now. What I have to say is for Oliver Queen's or should I say 'Jonas'," she lifted her hands and made air quotes while saying the name, "ears only."

"Okay," Tommy whispered and quickly headed for the door not even giving Oliver any eye contact. But as he was to take his last foot out Oliver's office he turned around and found some reserved pride, "Felicity…" he started.

"Tommy, I'm giving you an out. I strongly suggest you take it." Felicity gave him a look again.

Tommy nodded and finally gave his friend a look as if to say, I tried then took a step outside the office but not before asking, "should I close the door?"

Felicity gave Tommy a raised brow before she answered him, "what I have to tell Oliver won't take long, I just need to say what I have to say in private."

"Okay then, I'll leave the door open just in case you feel the need to kill my friend. Oh and if you do feel the urge that is, please do it quickly. He's squeamish about blood." Tommy couldn't resist the dig. Maybe it would lighten the mood if even a bit.

Giving Oliver one last look, he decided to give then half privacy by closing the door midway.

Now that Tommy was out of the room, Felicity turned her full attention to Oliver and Oliver couldn't help but squirm at the attention. Summoning whatever reserved dignity he had left. He stepped toward her hoping it would earn him some points. Hell, he was willing to grovel at her feet if she would let him.

"Felicity…"

Felicity raised a finger to stop him.

"No Oliver, this time you will listen to me. I think we both agree you deserve whatever I will say to you."

Oliver nodded readily. Agreeing to everything she would say seemed to be the right thing, the only thing for him to do at the moment.

"All I need right now is for you to say Yes or No to my questions. I don't have to tell you that you need to answer them truthfully because I would be able to tell if you are lying."

Oliver nodded again.

"You and Tommy played dress-up the day we met, in that coffee shop."

Oliver nodded. Dress-up wasn't really the word he would use, he would have gone with incognito or disguise or even gone method, but again, now is not the time for petty semantics.

"I have many scenarios going on in my head why you would go out of your way to play dress up. Maybe it's a new way for you to pick up girls. Two very billionaire brats, who thought, 'oh why don't we pretend dress-up, let's see how many people we can make a fool of.'" Felicity had kept her voice steady although her body language was saying something else.

Oliver tried to interrupt but Felicity kept talking above him.

"Felicity…"

"No. Oliver, it's my turn to talk. You made me believe you genuinely liked my company. There I was happy I had made friends who were both willing to spend time with me, two guys who I welcomed into my home. Two guys who would rather spend an entire afternoon helping me unpack boxes. Two guys who it turns out probably have a gazillion people do unpacking for them. But there you both where, helping me unpack and doing a splendid job about it, as if you were regular everyday guys."

Oliver was about to interrupt her but she signaled him to zip it. Again, Oliver just nodded.

"I'm going out on a limb here and assume that you liked playing your little game so much you decided to do so for another week. I mean you both showed up the week after for our coffee date after all." Oliver nodded again even if it wasn't really a question, but just Felicity talking to herself, almost like she was convincing herself.

"But I already told you I worked at Queen Consolidated the first time." She said this looking Oliver in the eye. "You both knew. No you knew and yet you were perfectly ready to keep up the charade of this masquerade you were playing."

Oliver started to shake his head as if to contradict her. But again she told him to zip it.

"I don't know what kind of game you think you and Tommy were playing. God knows how many victims you had in the past. I don't know exactly what it is about me that makes me so special that of the hundred of girls to chose to play with, it had to be me. If you thought that I would be flattered by the attention of two billionaires then you are sorely mistaken! You fooled me once. This will not happen again. I will not allow this to happen again!"

Felicity by this time was shaking with anger, but amazingly, she still had maintained her normal speaking voice. The only tell-tale sign that she was furious was because she was very red and her finger was shaking.

At this point, Oliver decided it was time he braved her wrath and started to make his point heard.

"Felicity," Oliver started and held her finger away from his face as she raised it again to stop him, he maneuvered her finger so now his hand was clasping her whole hand in his between them before he continued.

"Yes, Tommy and I usually dress-up as you put it. But it was to get away from all the attention we get as Oliver Queen and Tommy Merlyn." Oliver felt more than saw Felicity roll her eyes at him as if to say, rich people problems.

"Sometimes it just gets too much, all the attention. Sometimes, we just want to do things that other guys do, like hang-out in coffee shops with best friends. And as pathetic as that sounds, we don't get to do things like that without attracting a lot of attention."

His other hand unconsciously went up to touch her shoulder but at the last minute the hand dropped back down again. "It was never our intention, never my intention to play you for a fool. I didn't know back then what I know now. No, that's not true. I 'd known since that time we were unpacking boxes at your house that I would like to get to know you better. That I would like to get to know the woman who was spitting mad at me for spilling her coffee on her when I first met her." Seeing Felicity starting to shake her head, maybe in disbelief at what he was saying he quickly continued less he loose his momentum.

"Everything I said to you that night at the Club and at your office was true. I really would want to get to know you Felicity Meghan Smoak. Because, I really do like you a lot, I may be even falling for you," Oliver looked Felicity in the eye as he said the last part, every raw emotion he felt he left for her to see. Oliver knew that nothing less than sincerity and truth will be needed to get pass this.

Felicity continued to search his face, looking for any sign of deception or insincerity. Oliver for his part never felt quite as naked as he felt at that moment. He was after all Oliver Queen. He could get any woman he wanted with the snap of his fingers. Well, that was anyone but Felicity Smoak. But he didn't want anyone else but Felicity Smoak. That was his problem.

Finding nothing but what looked like genuine truth from Oliver's face, Felicity looked away. Her mind now focused on the why again. They had this conversation before, why was Oliver Queen attracted to her. She still was having a hard time believing his explanation the first time. Her insecurity was once again playing with her.

"I don't think it's a good idea, the getting to know me better or even being friends. I'm still mad, confused, I don't know how I should feel about all this. I just need some space, distance."

Frowning she took a step back but she was surprised to find that Oliver wouldn't let her, circling his free hand around her waist.

"No. We are going to finish this now. You said your peace, now let me finish with mine." Oliver told her, this time he was feeling more like himself, damn if he was going to let Felicity just walk out with things left to be said yet.

"There is nothing left to say Oliver. You and I both work here. Well, I work here. I like working here and I would like to continue working here. I don't know how it would be possible, but maybe we can just not get in each others way?" Felicity kept her eyes firmly on his chest.

"Like ignore each other?" Oliver answered her in disbelief.

"Yes. Yes, we are adults. We can do this." Felicity continued still staring at his chest.

"Felicity, what if I don't want to do that. Ignore you."

This time Felicity gave him a harsh laugh attempting to step away. "After all you did. The least you could do is give me this. There is no reason for us to interact outside of the office. I'm just suggesting we keep the interaction in the office to a bare minimum."

"No Felicity, I won't agree to that. There is still much left to be said. And this time you are going to listen to me," Oliver let both of his hand travel to twine with both of her hands.

"We are going on that date on Friday." Felicity started to shake her head but Oliver soldiered on. "You promised me a date. And I will not allow you to back out from that. In the, short time that I have known you, I know exactly what I want. And I am willing to fight for it. Fight for you. This," gesturing between them, "is unexpected. But I want to find out exactly where this can go. I like you. I am falling for you. I can't be any more honest with you right now. All I am asking for is a chance for this to play out."

"Believe me when I say, I will regret not telling you the truth about our dress-up sooner. I can't even recall what my reasons were at that time except that I was afraid of how you would react. It wasn't one of my brightest moments. And I will do everything I can so I can make that up to you."

"Oliver," finally looking up at him with sincerity, "it seems all so complicated to even bother with, we can just both walk away."

Oliver shook his head, "you don't really mean that."

Felicity looked down at their still joined hands before she answered him without looking at him, "I will probably regret this but for now, I really just need some time alone. Can you give me that," this time she looked up at Oliver. "Sara is coming over this weekend and we will be looking at apartment unit options for her. And I don't have to remind you that I have a lot of deadlines coming up for the projects I'm working on."

Felicity finally took a step back letting go of his hands in the process and all Oliver could do was exhale heavily.

"This is not over Felicity," Oliver warned her. "I…"

"Oliver," whatever Oliver was to say next was lost as both Felicity and Oliver looked guiltily at the doorway of Oliver's office. "Am I interrupting something?" Robert Queen asked curiously as he looked at both his son and Felicity.

"Yes," Oliver said at the same time Felicity vehemently said, "no!"

Robert raised an eyebrow, "something work related?" he asked again.

"No," Oliver said at the same time Felicity vehemently said, "yes!"

"Okay. Why don't both of you get your stories straight. I'll come back in a few minutes or better yet I'll expect both of you in say," pausing to look at his watch, "thirty minutes, that time enough son for your may or may not be work-related conversation with Ms. Smoak?"

Oliver looked at Felicity first who was looking anywhere but at both of the Queens, probably wanted to be swallowed by the floor before looking back to his father, "yes, thank you."

Robert nodded then, "I'll need both of you there, this is work-related." Robert looked back at his son who was looking at Felicity as he closed the door firmly behind him.

As Robert Queen trekked the hallway back to his office he had a small grin on his face. He was right, well, Walter and him were both right, his son was attracted to QC's brightest young star Felicity Smoak. Shaking his head, he hoped whatever it was that was going on, or what was going to go on between these two would not affect QC.

He had never openly interfered in his son's affairs, because that was what they where, affairs. He and his son had always had a quiet understanding that he would not use QC as his stomping ground for potential affairs so this development was unexpected, unprecedented.

But he had seen firsthand how his son had acted around Felicity Smoak. Maybe his son had forgotten that Robert Queen had built his empire from scratch with nothing but his skills and a lot of sweat to get QC where it was today. And among his skills had always been an alert and observant eye. That was one thing Walter Steele, his best friend and he had in common, they were good a reading people.

His son was infatuated with Ms. Smoak. That was a fact as far as Robert Queen was concerned.

He hoped that his son would be as capable as he had been, in keeping his personal and professional life separate from one another. Moira Queen had largely stayed away from QC and had dedicated much of her life on charities and foundations. Their marriage had remained strong to this day. He hoped that his son would be mature enough to follow the example of his parents.

Because with the news he was going deliver later, the same news he was suppose to deliver to his son earlier had he not stumbled on an apparent variation of a lover's quarrel, or not, his son and Felicity Smoak would be working very closely with one another. So close that she would be traveling with his family for an extensive ocular inspection for a potential QC joint venture tie-up.

* * *

**_Done with the chapter and now doing a variation of my victory dance as I had to re-write the ending of this chapter so many times to get it right where I wanted it to end. _**

**_Looking forward to the next chapter which shall feature the Queen's traveling with Felicity for an 'official' QC related activity. Felicity will meet both Moira and Thea for the first time during the next chapter too. _**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Author's Note: Felicity meets the Queen family. Since all my Olicity fics usually feature Thea/Tommy or even Moira as the people pushing for Oliver and Felicity, I thought this time it's going to be Robert Queen and Walter Steele playing the fairy-godfathers to these two._**

**_And in case you missed it, John Diggle is also in this fic but I had to rewrite his role from the driver/bodyguard to QC employee since his original backstory will not work in this story, again no Arrow featured in this one. This is purely AU._**

**_For those following this story it's going to be a 10 chapter story maximum, so that means we are more than halfway there already. I still have some ongoing stories that I have to get back to, SPOTLIGHT and EXPOSED are both screaming for my attention not to mention my other three stories on hiatus. _**

**_But wait, Oliver hasn't come clean yet regarding he being the Secret Admirer of Felicity. That will come to play down the road._**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

_A big THANK YOU to those following this and all my other stories._

_Follow me on twitter – lollipopsays_

_Follow me on tumblr – everythinglollipop_

_Soon I'll be posting my stories in Archive Our Own _

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 7**

"What are you doing here?" Felicity had just locked her townhouse door and was in the process of pulling her luggage down her driveway prepared to see a yellow taxi cab waiting for her at the curb but instead found Oliver Queen leaning lazily on the side of his car waiting for her.

"Picking you up," Oliver said plainly.

Felicity looked up and down her street.

"If you are looking for the cab then you won't find it." Felicity shifted her gaze back at Oliver after his statement. "I told the driver to leave, so" moving to open the car door, "really, I'm your only ride to the airport."

Felicity crossed her arms, "you can't keep doing this."

Oliver shrugged then moved forward to get her luggage from her and hand it to his driver before taking her laptop case from her gesturing for her to get into the car before him.

Oliver sat down beside her closing his door firmly before he looked back at her, "actually I can, and I will. As head of our delegation, it's my duty to ensure each member of my team makes it to the airport on time."

Felicity huffed in frustration. "I don't see the other members of your team in this car."

Oliver eyed her with a cocky grin, "the company van picked up the others. You were the only one whose home was on my route to the airport."

"I happen to know you live across town Oliver. I told you never to play me again for a fool."

Oliver exhaled now deflated, "fine, I wanted to fetch you. I would have thought you would appreciate these little gestures I am making. I'm trying to make an effort here."

Felicity just looked out the window saying nothing. It was true, during the last few days leading to this trip, Oliver had been making little gestures here and there, some subtle, others not so much, but still if Felicity was in the mood to give him some brownie points then he definitely earned a few.

Oliver rubbed his face in frustration, "Felicity…"

"I don't want special treatment. The others, in the team, they are starting to notice. I don't want them gossiping about us."

Oliver grinned at her, "so there is an us?"

"No. No us. None. There is you and there is me. Apart. No us."

"You just said," Oliver protested.

"No. Us." Looking at Oliver, "No us. Working with you, being in this team is already raising so many eyebrows."

"Felicity, everyone on the team knows why you are on the team. You are brilliant, you bring something to the team that only you can. No one but you questions your place in the team. Besides, it was Dad and Walter who chose the team. I had nothing whatsoever to do with it. But that doesn't mean I wouldn't have chosen you on my team if I had been given the chance to pick my team."

Felicity conceded that maybe she was overreacting but was still not above letting Oliver had the last word as she repeated one last time, "No us."

* * *

_That faithful day Robert Queen had 'caught' them in Oliver's office, both Oliver and Felicity had gone to Robert's office at precisely the time they were requested to._

_Robert was however not alone inside his office. Walter Steele was already seated on the armchair in front of Robert's desk. Also present and seated at the long couch were John Diggle, Assistant Division head for Applied Sciences, Brian Keys and Albert Anders both Technical engineers as well as a mousey looking accountant Trent Booth. They were already in the middle of a discussion when Oliver and Felicity walked in._

_"__Oh good, everyone is here. You okay son?" Robert turned to Oliver who just nodded at his father._

_Oliver pointed to a two-seater couch as his father nodded, gesturing for Felicity to take a seat before him._

_Robert then clapped his hands before asking Walter to resume._

_"__Oliver, Felicity," Walter greeted both of the new comers before continuing, "as I was saying. Queen Consolidated is seriously considering to buy-out or at least buy-in a major share in Moore Industries. It's a fifty year old company originally based off San Diego before it transferred in operations out to Hawaii about ten years ago. Robert and I have been meeting with the owners themselves during the last six months confidentially. Apparently, David Moore wanted to retire at 75 so that he could spend the rest of his years with his wife and family. Both children have not expressed any interest in taking over the company since the older one opted to pursue a career in medicine and the younger wanted to try his hand in operating hotels, hence, the opportunity for takers."_

_"__We aren't the only interested party to buy-in or buy-out, but David Moore has offered us first refusal rights within the next thirty days after due diligence has been done." Robert continued where Walter has left off._

_"__Currently Moore Industries is one of the top companies focused in breakthrough wearable technology R&amp;D, it also supplies a large volume of chips and parts for computers, laptops, phones and other related gadgets. Whoever owns Moore automatically owns the rights to all ongoing and future R&amp;D and projects of the company. QC is very interested in seeing this happen and we will do everything we can to make this a reality," Walter finished._

_Robert stood from his executive chair behind the table to go around it and half sit in front facing each person present, "This is a big investment for QC, if this pushes through majority of our cash will be locked in with this, but Walter and I agreed, as did the board that it was worth the risk. We agreed that a special projects team would be responsible for the required due diligence in Moore Industries. We are looking at a timeline of one month for this after which we expect an extensive report which will direct us to make our final decision to purchase. My son, Oliver, who is already currently heading the Special Projects Division will be heading the team for this." Robert looked around seeing everyone but Felicity nodding their heads in consent._

_"__My son is also hearing this for the first time since I have not had the opportunity to talk to him yet about this. Prior to this very meeting, only Walter and I were aware of this opportunity."_

_Robert finally turned to his son, "Son, Walter and I have taken the liberty of handpicking the personnel we feel would best fit the requirements for an extensive due diligence. Their combined expertise in their fields would be able to give you a better insight when you prepare the final recommendation. John, Brian, Albert had all been with QC for at least 10 years. Trent will help you with inputs for the financial side. Of course, since most of the technology is breakthrough and for the future, we thought to inject the team with young blood who both Walter and I feel is also perfect for the team, Ms. Smoak that is where you come in. This is right up your alley."_

_Felicity physically gulped and swallowed as Robert was justifying her inclusion, she knew she had turned slightly pink when all seven pairs of eyes were suddenly on her._

_Robert paused for a few seconds as if sizing her up before he looked back at his son, "of course, you are free to make a few changes, maybe a few additions if you see it fit Oliver."_

_Oliver absorbed the information for a minute before he answered, this was after all also a big step for him and a lot of responsibility on his shoulders not only because he was Robert Queen's son, but because this would impact QC majorly._

_"__I don't see the need to make any changes at the moment. I have worked with John, Brian and Albert before. I am sure Trent is more than capable. And everyone has heard of how extraordinarily brilliant Felicity is. So yes, I think the team is perfect as it is," Oliver told his father and Walter._

_"__Fine then, everyone please talk to your immediate supervisors today and ask them to reassign all jobs that are assigned to you personally as you will all be working with this team exclusively. You have a day to endorse them. All of you are expected to join Walter and I to meet David Moore and his team, who will be your counterpart on Friday. We will be flying to Hawaii and the team will be based there for at least a month. That includes you too Oliver. Walter and I will be joining you for about 3 to 4 days before we have to fly back to resume our duties and responsibilities here in QC. I apologize for any disruption this may cause in your personal life, but it is necessary for this to happen, so if any of you feel you would like to step down from the team now would be the time to do so," Robert glanced around at the team one last time for final affirmations._

_Turning one last time to Oliver, "I will have Miriam send over all the necessary documents to your office within the hour for your review. I suggest you sit down with your team to plan how to go about this a couple of times before we leave this Friday."_

* * *

"Where are the others?" Felicity turned to Oliver frowning as she looked around the private plane and noticed they were the only ones there aside from the pilots and a couple of air stewards.

"John, Brian, Albert and Trent took the commercial flight to Hawaii. They left about an hour ago. This," gesturing to the plane, "is actually my family's private plane. Walter and my family will be joining us shortly. They were probably caught up in traffic. And before your mind goes on overtime, you being here rather than the commercial flight was my Dad's idea, not mine. I just didn't object to it," Oliver defended himself.

Felicity huffed, definitely flying in a private fully equipped jet was the better alternative but she still didn't want special treatment. This was exactly what she was fighting against.

Noting her expression Oliver said, "if you have any problems with the flight arrangements why don't you take it up with my Dad."

"I'm taking it up with you," Felicity grumbled.

"Well, I don't see anything wrong with the arrangements."

Felicity took a seat determined to ignore Oliver for the rest of the trip but she remembered something Oliver said earlier, "wait, did you say Mr. Steele and your Dad wouldn't be the only ones joining us?"

Oliver took the seat in front of her so they were now facing each other, "that's right. My mother and sister would also be joining us."

Felicity narrowed her eyes at Oliver.

"Again, don't blame me. Dad made the arrangements. Apparently, the Moore's were family oriented folks. They wanted to meet the entire family."

"And you are just telling me now that I will be riding in this plane with your entire family."

"Well, Walter will be joining us too. But yeah, it's no biggie Felicity."

"No biggie! Easy for you to say! I've never met your sister or your Mom and I'm sure they'll be wondering who on earth I am and what I am doing here."

"Felicity," Oliver said transferring to the seat beside her and reaching out to hold her hand, "relax, they don't bite, I promise."

"Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Thea's voice reverberated inside the plane as Felicity tried to pull her hand from under Oliver's.

"Speedy…" Oliver turned to his sister, just as he was about to introduce Felicity to his sister, his Dad interrupted him.

"Oh great, everyone's here. Moira honey, this is Felicity Smoak, Walter and I have told you about her", giving his wife a look.

Moira gave Felicity a once over noting the still joined hands of her son and the woman's not so subtle attempts to remove her hand from his. This somehow was something funny to Moira because historically, her son would be the one trying to get out of that hold-embrace or joint hands with a woman, not exactly her son's style-not the other way around.

"Felicity, such a nice name, I am pleased to finally meet you. My husband and Walter have told me about you," holding out her hand only to be interrupted by Thea once again.

"Well nobody told me about her, it is Felicity right?" Thea inserted.

Felicity nodded facing Thea after Moira let go of her hand forcing Oliver to let go of her hand too.

"Walter is here, please take your seats everyone," Robert told his family before he grabbed his wife's hand to escort her to their seats.

"I want to seat beside Felicity," Thea told her brother with arms crossed.

"Speedy, there are lots of other empty seats." Oliver told her not willing to give up his seat and more importantly, he was not going to subject Felicity to Thea, especially with the current mood his sister was in.

Thea walked toward Felicity and gave her a look that dared her to say no, "why don't we ask Felicity who she wants to sit beside her Ollie."

Felicity inhaled and closed her eyes briefly as if saying to herself 'why is this happening to me' before she turned back to Oliver, "it would be nice to sit beside another girl. I'm sure we have lots in common that we can talk about."

Oliver looked at Felicity like she grew another head but his attention was once again drawn to his sister as she deliberately poked him, "get up and out Ollie. Felicity and I have lots to talk about, you heard her."

Oliver stood up unsure of what to do next, "you don't even know each other, you have nothing to talk about and nothing in common, speedy."

Thea pushed her brother out of the way and plopped on the chair beside Felicity, "on the contrary, we apparently have you in common, so we have more than enough to talk about," shooing her brother away as if he were a dog.

* * *

**_Oh No! Thea is doing her little sister thing. At this point, Felicity has met the whole family. _**

**_Poor Oliver, his plan to get Felicity all to himself was once again thwarted. Maybe Hawaii would prove to be the better atmosphere for the alone time Oliver had been craving for with Felicity._**


	8. Chapter 8

**_Author's Note: Before anyone shoots me for not knowing my Olicity IQ because hey we all watch Arrow 3.10 and it was clearer than day that Felicity Smoak is 25 years old. I deliberately changed some facts so they would fit in with my story including the year Felicity graduated and her current age among a few other liberties. Because remember this story does not have Oliver being shipwrecked therefore no 5-year limbo needed._**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

_A big THANK YOU to those following this and all my other stories._

_Follow me on twitter – lollipopsays_

_Follow me on tumblr – everythinglollipop_

_Soon I'll be posting my stories in Archive Our Own and Wattpad_

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 7**

Oliver kept glancing back at his sister and Thea from his seat frowning.

"Son, am sure Felicity is more than capable of handling Thea on her own. Why don't we use the remaining time to discuss what we should expect to encounter with the Moore's," Robert interrupted his thoughts.

After a few seconds of Oliver still glaring at his sister he reluctantly agreed with his father and gave him, Walter and his mother his full attention.

In the opposite end of the plane, Thea was giving Felicity an open appraisal and not even trying to hide it. She even tilted her head so that Felicity would know that she was being observed making Felicity even more uncomfortable.

"Felicity, Felicity, who are you? Judging from the amount of squirming and glaring my brother is doing, I'd say someone more than a friend." Thea raised a hand to stop Felicity from denying what Thea believed to be was the truth instead patted Felicity's hand. "I know my brother well, hell I've lived with him my whole life. And that look he has, never seen that before. Suffice to say I'm quite intrigued, fascinated really. Five days, that's how long we," gesturing between them, "will be spending together. I wasn't really looking forward to this trip. But then you came along. Now everything has changed. I think this is going to be one of the best family vacations ever."

Felicity unconsciously swallowed after what Thea said.

"No time like the present for twenty questions. Let's see. How old are you?"

"21," Felicity answered tentatively.

"I'm 17 in case you're wondering, that means I have a year before I'm shipped off to some University. You're fresh out of college, first job?"

"Yes."

"I'm guessing with the look you've got going, you graduated from one of them A-list schools."

"MIT, 2014, top of my class actually."

"Intelligent and pretty, my brothers taste has improved vastly. I bet you are way smarter than him."

"Most probably, not that I'm bragging or anything. It's just that it's a fact that I have a superior IQ. And Oliver and I are not what you think we are. I'm part of the team of Queen Consolidated employees who will be doing necessary due diligence for the Moore Industries buy-in. The Moore's are the family that owns the company."

"Aha, that's not going to work on me, the attempt to mislead me that is. I invented that. That's my specialty. Ollie has nothing on me. So back to my Q &amp; A, how did you meet my brother, did he put the moves on you?"

Felicity gave her a nervous laugh, "I don't think I'm comfortable sharing that with you."

"Trying to be evasive I see. Well, I can see you are going to be much more challenging to get information from unlike my brother who sings like a canary when cornered. Don't sweat it. I'll get that info from him. It must be something if you're being deliberately mysterious about it."

"I don't really think it's any of your business."

"On the contrary Felicity, anything that is uncharacteristically unlike my brother's usual patterns is my business. That's what little sisters are for, to make big brother's life miserable."

"You have a weird relationship with your brother."

"And you have an intriguing one with him."

"What is with you Queens! There is no us, there is me, then there is your brother. No us." Felicity had said almost the exact same thing to Oliver about maybe two hours ago and she was getting a little tired of repeating herself.

"I see I've hit a nerve and an insightful one too. Let see, my broody brother wanted to define your non-relationship by labeling it. And for reasons that fascinate me, you refuse to do so," grinning and rubbing her fingers in glee, "this is definitely a first for brother dear. I bet his boxers are in a twist. No wonder he has that pained expression permanently etched on his face. I told you I'll get it out of you," Thea told her giving her a wide grin.

Felicity placed a palm to her head in frustration and shook her head. It was going to be a long ride to Hawaii. She just hoped she could survive Thea Queen.

* * *

"What did I do now?" Oliver scowled at Felicity.

Felicity inhaled and relented, "it's not you. Well it is you, but not really. It's just this thing between you and me. I don't feel comfortable having to explain to everyone exactly what we are, what kind of relationship we have."

Oliver grabbed her elbow, "I take it Thea gave you a hard time. I tried to warn you, I'm sorry about my sister."

"Yeah, we'll you sister is like a hurricane. I've just never anyone like her. She's just…different."

Oliver shrugged, "she usually doesn't really bother, finds everything and everyone a waste of her time. It's the first time in a long time that she actually expressed any interest in anyone actually."

"And I'm supposed to feel flattered by the attention?"

"No actually, I know my sister enough to know this is not the last time she would try to get you to herself. But, I won't let that happen again. I wouldn't have let it happen the first time but you said it was fine."

"Well, you hadn't warned me about your sister. Now, I know better than to have a repeat of the last time."

Oliver put his hands on her shoulders, "well, I won't let you out of my sight so there won't be a need to worry."

Just as Oliver said this to Felicity the husband and wife team of the Moore's entered the work room that was attached to the office David Moore maintained at home.

Eyeing Oliver and Felicity, Angela Moore, David's wife smiled. "Oh, we were wondering where you lovebirds have run off to."

"Oh, we're not…" Felicity started but was interrupted mid sentence by Oliver.

"We wanted to get a headstart on the paperwork review," Oliver pointed to the pile of paper on the round table on the other side of the room.

David shook his head at Oliver, "young man, if there is something I have learned from my dearest Angela here," David locked his arm around the waist of his petite 73 year old wife, "it's pleasure before business. The wife always should be top priority before any business, no matter how important it is. Besides, you have a whole month to do the work and you have your more than able team to help you according to your father. Live a little."

Oliver exhaled with a laugh. David's advice was spot on, something he would totally agree with except for one little small matter. Felicity was not his wife….yet, nor his girlfriend…..yet, even as he said it in his own head, he was surprisingly okay with the thoughts he was having and he did not have the heart to correct David and Angela and their assumptions about the relationship he had with Felicity.

Glancing to his right however, he noticed Felicity opened and closed her mouth several times already, obviously egging to correct the Moore's but for once didn't know how to. She instead turned her attention to Oliver and gave him a glare that could kill.

Oliver took the cue, "Felicity is not my wife, not that I wouldn't want her to be, my wife that is." Oliver found his neck a little heated as he said that, a sure sign he was maybe blushing a little as he explained. Felicity's nails were now digging on his side subtly. "She is however someone very special to me," Oliver dared to lean in and kiss her on the forehead, "and you are right of course, we should probably be relaxing for an hour or two before we get started with the grunt work."

"Talking like a fine husband already, this one's a keeper," Angela said gleefully to Felicity.

Felicity gave a tortured laugh and then blushed nicely.

"Now, now, your luggage has been brought up already. I've already settled the others into their rooms. The right wing of the house is where all of you will be located. It's more private since it's empty. David and I are on the left wing, as are our children are when they decide to stay for the night. Your father and mother are at the first room of the wing on the right, your sister Thea is on the left room and since you will be staying with us for a whole month as I understand it, Oliver, you and your lovely girl will be at the end most room of the right wing, the master suite." Angela again said a lovely smile on her face.

"We….what…no," Felicity sputtered again, blushing profusely.

Oliver for his part had a very nice grin thanking the Moore's and promising them that Felicity and he will get settled in right away in their room before pulling Felicity.

* * *

"Oliver Queen what the hell," Felicity marched angrily inside the master suite and turned abruptly to toward Oliver. Another time she would have appreciated how lovely the master suite was with its spacious living room area before it ended with a door that undoubtedly housed the bedroom and an en suite bath. But right now, her whole being was spoiling for a fight with Oliver.

"I like the Moore's, they're nice folks," Oliver went totally of topic hoping to shift away from a dangerous confrontation.

"You would! They practically married you off, married us off. And you said nothing!"

"That's not true. I told them you were not my wife, although it hurts me a little that you found it distasteful not to be married to me. I happen to be good husband material."

"Will you quit with all this married talk. Or even openly encouraging this relationship thing that everyone thinks we have. You and your….your delusion, it's what is getting us into this situations of having to clarify this," gesturing between them.

"I would have termed it desire or even fantasy but never a delusion Felicity. I've been more than honest with you. Granted, I've been remise in correcting the definition of where exactly we are in our relationship. However, you are overlooking one very important fact. There is one, a relationship I mean between the two of us. Because it is clearly immutable to everyone that I am openly pursuing you and that you are the only woman in my life now. And by everyone, I mean my family, probably most of the people in QC and my friends. Tommy definitely knows. If you will allow me, the public will know. Hell, I'll tell the world." Oliver argued back while leaning against the closed door of the master suite looking at Felicity who finally paused from marching back and forth to look back at him.

After a moment Felicity looked away, "what about the sleeping arrangements?" This time she opted for the topic shift.

"What about them?" Oliver responded deliberately being vague.

"You really don't think we will be sleeping on the same bed!"

Oliver shrugged, "well, a guy can dream." Felicity huffed and Oliver relented. "Fine, I'll sleep on the couch, you take the bedroom. I think it's the perfect compromise."

"You would. What's wrong with getting separate bedrooms. Or better yet, why am I not bunked in at the same hotel all the other QC employees are checked in. Why did I have to be here?"

Oliver lifted his hands in surrender, "don't look at me. That is none of my doing. That was purely my mom and maybe the Moore's. Again Mom probably thought you wouldn't be comfortable being the only woman with four guys in the hotel. She probably didn't anticipate the Moore's would place the both of us in one room. But everything is fine in the end. I'll be taking the couch and you'll be taking the bedroom. Win, win."

Felicity looked at Oliver again and mumbled something under her breath before she grabbed her luggage and pulled it toward the bedroom shutting the door noisily after her.

After Felicity closed the bedroom door with finality, Oliver glanced around the living room of the master suite. It really was nice and comfortable. Even the couch he had volunteered to spend his nights on looked comfortable. Spotting a small bar section at the corner, he went for what looked like whisky grinning to himself. Win, win indeed.

* * *

**_Footnote: I hope this fic has lived up to your expectations so far. It really was fun writing this chapter. And next one I think would turned out to be even better although I haven't really started on it yet._**

**_You know the drill. Reviews and comments or maybe accolades (a girl can dream!) by tweeting me – lollipopsays. Imagine me twirling in my tutu….._**


	9. Chapter 9

**_Author's Note: This chapter was so easy to write. It just took me all of under two hours. But then again, after watching Arrow 3.11 and that opening dream sequence as well as seeing all those pictures of the wedding scene being shot in my twitter TL, who wouldn't be inspired to write, I just died and went to Arrow heaven._**

**_This is another chapter that had me giggling by myself the whole time I was writing it and imagining the actual scenes play out in my head, sinceriously!_**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

_A big THANK YOU to those following this and all my other stories._

_Follow me on twitter – lollipopsays_

_Follow me on tumblr – everythinglollipop_

_Soon I'll be posting my stories in Archive Our Own and Wattpad_

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 8**

"Oh God Oliver!" Felicity screamed as she spotted Oliver inside the bedroom in just his boxer-briefs as she exited the en suite bathroom in only a towel.

Oliver gave her a once over grinning, "Good Morning Felicity."

"What are you doing here Oliver," Felicity asked him while still holding on to the towel wrapped around her.

"Shower," pointing to the en suite, "just because you got the bedroom doesn't mean you get to hog the bath to yourself, my turn now." Oliver turned around last second before he entered the bath to face Felicity again who was still standing like a statue, "there is more than one towel in there right? Otherwise I'd have to get that from you," trying to say that last part with a straight face.

"There's more, lots more in there. Just go Oliver," Felicity told him the blush spreading all over her body.

"Pity, I'll just be a few minutes."

As the door to the en suite bathroom finally shut with finality Felicity plopped down on the bed unceremoniously. Not only was she dying of embarrassment at being seen by Oliver with only a towel wrapped around her. Although how the fact that they would be sharing a bathroom between them, since they were in fact sharing a room slipped her mind was beyond her. She had woken up in the most comfortable bed she had ever slept on, gone through her morning routine completely forgetting where she was and who her 'roommate' was. Thank god she at least wrapped a towel around her body because sometimes she was just too lazy, she walked from her bathroom to her bedroom naked. Because she lived alone, there was no one she could flash.

She inhaled heavily, today was the first of four more weeks they would be sharing a bathroom. She hoped she had the fortitude to carry her through those weeks because seeing Oliver in just his boxers….if shock hadn't been her first instinctual reaction, it would have been something akin to aroused. Because hell, those abs, that body, and she wouldn't even go where her eyes unconsciously went as Oliver stood up from the bed. What was underneath his boxers, frack, this was not happening!

Oliver was grinning to himself while he showered.

Definitely not as unaffected as she pretended to be, Oliver concluded.

Felicity for her part quickly went through her dress up and make up routine, not sure how long Oliver normally took his bath in the morning. She definitely wouldn't want to be caught in the middle of dressing up by him and she didn't have anywhere else to go since they were after all sharing a room together.

"Felicity," Oliver called from the bathroom as Felicity jumped in surprise at his holler.

Felicity took a few steps until she reached the door of the bath, "what?"

"Could you hand me my clothes. I left them on top of the armchair at the corner of the bed."

Felicity glanced around the room and noticed for the first time that indeed Oliver had brought in what appeared to be his luggage and in the corner of the bedroom. A few articles of clothing was spread out on the armchair including, was that boxer briefs, socks and his white dress shirt.

"Any day now Felicity," Oliver said over the closed door that was suddenly opened impatiently just as Felicity grabbed the first item she could get her hands on which just happened to be his boxer briefs.

Felicity turned around as Oliver walked across the room with just a towel covering his….Felicity struggled to look anywhere but there until her eyes locked on the bare chest that was maybe six inches away from her. Rapidly shifting her eyes, they landed on his chin, the sexiest chin she had ever seen in her life with his more than day old manly facial hair, oh baby jesus!

"You intend to hold on to my underwear the whole time? Because if you wanted me to go commando all you had to do was ask nicely."

Felicity looked up abruptly at his statement noting his easy grin and teasing demeanor. That finally got her out of her haze. The hand that was holding his boxer-briefs was suddenly on his bare chest, "here."

Oliver's hand was swiftly on top of hers still holding his underwear over his bare chest, "thank you," slowly taking it from her.

In one swift motion Oliver stripped off his towel attracting Felicity's glance directly toward the action before she looked away turning red.

"See something you like?"

Still with her back turned to him, "we should establish some ground rules."

She felt Oliver walk nearer, "what kind of ground rules."

"The kind of ground rules where we don't see or walk into each other naked or half-naked."

"I'm fine with seeing you naked, I don't need ground rules for those," Oliver answered back.

A defined sound of clothes being put on was heard in the background, thinking it was safe to turn around Felicity did just that, her eyes almost popped at what she saw, "that," gesturing toward Oliver, "that is exactly what I am talking about," looking away again.

Oliver approached her, buttoning up his dress shirt. "I asked you to hand me my clothes while I was in the bath where I fully intended to change. You took your time handing them to me. Now we are out of time, the others should be assembling in the dining room as speak. It's rude to keep our hosts waiting unless you wanted them to think that we where late because something was keeping both of us in the bedroom." At Felicity's frown, Oliver spelled it out for her, "morning sex."

Felicity gave him a choking sound before Oliver decided he played with her enough this morning, "why don't you finish dressing up in the bathroom, I'll finish dressing up here. Five Minutes."

* * *

"There they are, finally. My brother keep you up?" Thea unsurprisingly was the first one to attack as they walked into the dining room that already had the Moore's, Oliver's parents, Thea and Walter seated and partaking in the breakfast feast.

"Speedy," Oliver warned his sister before he directed Felicity to a chair in front of Mrs. Moore who was seated to the right of her husband. Robert Queen was seated at the other end of the table with Moira and Walter on either side of him. Thea was seated between Moira and Angela Moore. That left Oliver seated in front of his sister.

David Moore started with the shop talk, "After breakfast we all head off for a tour of the Moore Plant, including the ladies. Although Angela was thinking Moira, you Thea and Felicity might want to set up a shopping trip later in the day. Never get in between women and shopping, my Angela has trained me well."

Robert laughed heartily from the across the room, "Moira told me the same thing."

While the couples at the end of the table continued their banter Felicity was trying to attract Oliver's attention. She finally just pinched him in the leg.

"Oww," Oliver hissed attracting the attention of everyone in the table.

Oliver and Felicity both froze for a second before Felicity gave him a whisper that was heard by everyone across the table, "I'm here to work, not to shop!"

Oliver gave the Moores a grimace, "sorry, Felicity prefers to bury herself in work rather than a shopping trip."

From across the room Moira interrupted, "nonsense Felicity, you have more than enough time to accomplish what you came for here once we leave. You wouldn't disappoint Angela and me and not to mention Thea who has grown attached to you the pleasure of a half-day of shopping with you, would you?"

Felicity inhaled, looking at Oliver as if seeking answers only to see him shrug at her offering her no other support.

"Please Felicity," Thea gave her a puppy look knowing that Felicity wouldn't be able to resist any longer.

"Half-a-day, that's it."

"Yes," Thea fist pumped in excitement.

Walter was grinning at Robert before he looked at Felicity, "one can hope that every other QC employee is as dedicated as Felicity is here. Then we'd know we would be leaving QC and possibly Moore in the capable hands of the next generation to run these businesses."

"You've always had an eye for talent dear," Moira told her husband, "I think Felicity here according to both you and Walter had more than proven her worth in the short time she had been with us."

"More than proven her worth, definitely, my dear," Robert answered her nodding.

Felicity for her part was blushing like there was no tomorrow, not only were they singing her praises in front of her, but they were openly discussion that in front of a potential business partner, the couple were both smiling in agreement as if they knew something she did not.

"Oliver," Robert continued gaining his son's attention, "I will personally hold you responsible for ensure Felicity here remains in QC hopefully for the rest of her life."

"I'm on top of it," winking at Felicity in response to his father's command.

Felicity glanced to her left and her right, all around her where nods and knowing faces giving her encouraging smiles. _'What the hell is happening!'_ she asked herself. It's like she was dropped in the middle of an alternate universe where she had no control over her destiny.

If only for the frustration she felt, correctly perceiving that maybe her future was a little out of her control, she gave Oliver another pinch in the leg.

"Oww," Oliver whispered a hiss at her.

"Physically abusing my brother already? So married!" Thea said and everyone around the table laughed

* * *

"This is our R&amp;D. It's like your Applied Sciences division. This is where everything we put out is nurtured. Most of our own products are testing for a year or two before they are tagged as ready for release. We have various projects at different stages of development. Mr. Diggle," David Moore called the attention of John Diggle the deputy head of QC's Applied Sciences also a member of Oliver's team, "maybe you and the rest of the team would like to a more thorough appreciation of what we have in our back burner. Except for Mr. Booth of course who is working with our finance team."

"I'd like to see those too," Felicity inserted, afraid that she would once again be pulled away by the ladies.

"We will both be present for that Felicity. I'm thinking tomorrow would be a good day to start. Maybe Dad and Walter would appreciate a firsthand look too before they depart for Starling in a couple of days?" Oliver worked out the schedule with David.

"Yes?" David looked at both Robert and Walter for their consents before he nodded back to Oliver, "then that will be on the agenda tomorrow. We will be playing with some exciting toys," David was practically grinning in anticipation.

"Fine, that's settled then. Why don't you proceed with the rest of the tour with the boys dear, us girls will be taking our leave now. We have our own plans for the afternoon," Angela told her husband giving him a peck on the cheek before wiping off the lipstick mark.

Moira gave Robert a kiss goodbye and Thea embraced her father, then all the three women turned to Felicity who didn't know what to do next.

"Go with them," Oliver whispered to her, his hand on her elbow.

"But…" Felicity wanted to stay with the boys. She was after all supposed to be 'working' not going 'leisurely shopping'. The three other QC guys, John, Brian and Albert were looking at her a little confused at what was happening. Thankfully Brent was not with them.

"Go." Oliver repeated.

"Oh. Okay," handing Oliver her tablet, she was taking little notes during the tour in her tablet after all. "Umm…" Felicity was awkwardly saying goodbye to Oliver who was beside her conscious that everyone's attention was now on them.

Oliver decided to put Felicity's out of her misery by leaning over and giving her a kiss on the cheek before whispering in her ear, "don't give my mother too hard a time when she gives you something I told her to give you later." Oliver straightened and told her, "we'll talk later during dinner," this time everyone heard him.

* * *

"Felicity dear, you haven't even tried anything on." Moira called her out. The four ladies had already been in four shops, all with dresses, shoes and accessories that Felicity was falling in love with.

"I'm still looking around," Felicity gave Moira what she thought was a reasonable excuse. She had glanced at the prices of the merchandize and just caught herself in time before she was about to utter a swear word.

Felicity was after all a working girl, with just a slightly higher than normal entry level pay. After the moving costs, the rent cost and her day to day living cost, she had less than fifteen percent of her monthly pay left which she earmarked as savings. The costs of the merchandize here, no matter how they made Felicity salivate was just way above her budget.

"Felicity dear," Moira approached her, "I almost forgot to give you this, from my son."

Moira handed Felicity a card, wait was it a credit card with Oliver's name on it. Felicity had looked at Moira in confusion.

Felicity tried to return the card to Moira but Moira put up her hands. "Take it up with my son, it was his idea."

Felicity was still in the middle of trying the return the credit card back to Moira when Thea and Angela Moore returned with an armful of clothes.

"Okay, these are all bought and paid for," Thea said as she handed the bags to Felicity.

'Wait, what…" these are yours. We're roughly the same size, so I just tried them on for you.

"But I didn't…" Felicity protested.

"Oh honey," Angela started, "these are not even half the number of bags Thea here bought for herself. I didn't stop her. She would have bought the whole store."

"I can't help it, the clothes here are to die for," Thea defended herself.

Moira and Thea started to gush at the clothes again with Angela leaving Felicity holding the bag of clothes that Thea had purchased for her. _'How is this my life now. Oliver isn't even my boyfriend….yet, or ever, after this latest fiasco.' _Felicity told herself.

* * *

Oliver was leaning on the headboard of the bed, his feet bare as he was going over some documents in bed when Felicity walked in, her eyes zooming in on him and if he were a lesser man he would be pissing in his pants right about now.

Felicity dropped all of the bags on top of the bed, unmindful of the documents spread out.

"Hey, those are important documents from Moore," Oliver scolded her mildly.

Felicity felt guilty for about two seconds before she went back to her task of telling Oliver off. "You can have this back," almost throwing the credit card back at him, "and no I didn't use it. How dare you! Why did you even think it was marginally okay to give me a card as if I was your….as if we married. For the last time Oliver," she was digging into his chest as the moment she started her rant he stood up, "you can't keep treating me like we're married or like I'm your girlfriend. I can pay my own way!"

Oliver took the finger poking his chest and held on to it, "maybe it wasn't my brightest idea. But all I wanted was for you to enjoy the shopping experience, buy what you want without hesitation. If I was with you I would have insisted paying anyway. I just wanted you to be happy. I just wanted me to make you happy."

Felicity repeatedly bumped her forehead on Oliver's chest in frustration, understanding where he was coming from but still stubbornly accepting his point of view.

"Oliver, I've been on my own for most of my 21 years. My father left when I was very young. My mother was always off somewhere doing whatever, so I practically raised myself. Sure I didn't have all the luxuries in the world. But I think I did good on my own. I've never needed someone, never had someone just give me a free ride. I'm not going to start now."

"What if," Oliver paused trying to find the best way to say what he wanted to say, "Felicity, someone like you, someone who is one-in-a-billion to someone like me, you just don't see what I see. I said it before, I'll say it again. And I'll keep saying it again, I'm falling in love it with. Hell, I am in love with you. And if you will let me, I'd like to be that someone who would take care of you. You deserve someone who would treat you like a Queen," Oliver chuckled at the pun, his hand now on her cheek, "I want to be that man. Let me be that man for you."

Felicity looked up at Oliver, "Oliver…I, this, this is all very confusing for me. I'm flattered of course," Oliver felt Felicity starting to pull back and stopped her.

"I don't want you to be flattered."

"I don't know how I am supposed to feel!" Felicity protested.

"Of course you do, you're just in denial."

Felicity inhaled composing her thoughts, "Oliver, can you give me a little time. I just need sometime. I don't know what this," gesturing between them, "is yet. Everything is happening so fast. Besides, we came here to work, that's what we should be focused on, work." Walking toward the bed and lifting a sheet of paper, "are these some of the papers we need to review?" totally changing the topic.

Oliver pulled Felicity down in the bed as he too sat down, gathering the papers as well as Felicity's tablet, "fine, for tonight, we will talk about work, but only because we have some catching up to do before we go back to Moore's R&amp;D tomorrow. You wouldn't believe what else we were shown once you had left."

Felicity folded her arms on her chest, "I didn't want to go remember. I wanted to stay."

Oliver smirked pointing to the bags, "you didn't enjoy your shopping, that's why you have," counting the bags, "seven bags with you."

"That was all your sister's doing. She bought them behind my back for me."

"Ah," Oliver said grinning.

"What's that look?" Felicity asked Oliver frowning.

"That means she likes you. A lot."

Felicity face palmed, "thank god she will be gone in two days then. I've never seen anyone shop the way your sister did. She practically bought the whole store."

"That's my sister. If you had another shopping day with her, you'd probably be the proud owner of a whole season of a designer wardrobe."

"Then thank god for small miracles. We do have that R&amp;D thing tomorrow right. I am going there right. I haven't been banished to do girly things again."

Handing her tablet back to her, "yes we have that R&amp;D thing tomorrow, that's why we have to work extra hard tonight. I want to read all these research notes so we know what's being discussed tonight, you up for that?"

"I thought you'd never ask."

"Well then, let's have dinner downstairs. I'm sure the Moore's are waiting for us. Then we'll spend at least part of the night in bed going through these," referring to the documents still in his hands.

Felicity eyed him like she'd been conned by him.

"Don't think too hard, you'll get wrinkles," Oliver teased her massaging her temple, "come on, let's go down we don't want my sister thinking we missed each other so much we'd rather stay in the bedroom," pulling her to the door.

* * *

_**you know the drill.**_


	10. Chapter 10

**_Author's Note: This is a long chapter because I really didn't know where to cut it and I wanted to get a lot tackled in this chapter. I know I said that this story will end with the 10th chapter, but it looks like their is so much more story to tell, so maybe 3 more chapters? lucky 13?  
_**

**_All the fluff in the previous chapters have led to some drama and angsty moments in this one. Remember that line in the DCC (Dallas Comic Con) that Stephen Amell uttered: "It get's darker before the we reach the dawn" or something like that because I feel I am badly paraphrasing it. Well, that's what happens here. But because this is light and fluffy even the whoops moments are lighter. _**

**_This chapter is especially dedicated to my fellow Pinoy's out there. Thank you much for the support._**

**_Once again, I do not own anything related to the Arrow or the characters, but a girl can dream….fluffy dreams._**

_A big THANK YOU to those following this and all my other stories._

_Follow me on twitter – lollipopsays_

_Follow me on tumblr – everythinglollipop_

_Soon I'll be posting my stories in Archive Our Own and Wattpad_

* * *

**SECRET ADMIRER**

**Chapter 10**

Felicity woke up confused. There was something heavy on her chest preventing her from moving. There was also the unexplained warmth on her thigh.

Finally deciding to sneak an itsy bitsy peek first not wanting to completely loose the haze of sleep, Felicity spotted a mop of blond hair, male blond hair on her chest that suspiciously looked like the top of the head of Oliver Queen.

Now fully awake but refusing to move at her discovery, Felicity recalled the events last night that had led to her and Oliver sharing a bed, fully clothed she noted, she in her pajama bottoms and tank top and he in his sleep shorts once again and a t-shirt.

After dinner they had carried on with reading the documents Moore had provided them for the Applied Science detailed tour today. Oliver had convinced her that the best place to review the documents was right where he was earlier, the bed. He justified that it was not unusual because it allowed him to absorb information more in a relax environment like on the bed, in the bedroom. That was Oliver's reasoning. But somehow she had agreed. And they ended up changing to 'more comfortable clothes' before they 'worked'.

Felicity remembered that she was still reading until the wee hours of the morning, now looking for the glasses she should still be wearing if she had fallen asleep. She looked to her right, apparently her side of the bed where the bedside table was and saw that not only her glasses but her phone was also resting comfortably there.

She tilted her head to the left, apparently Oliver's side of the bed now and saw the documents they were reviewing last night neatly piled.

She reached out to grab her phone to check the time, 7 in the morning. That means she had something like 4 to 5 hours sleep.

She tried to angle her body so she could get out from underneath Oliver to no avail. If anything, the warmth that was pressing on her thigh pressed into her more, Oliver's hand.

How had Oliver ended up on top of her, innocently of course, she had no idea. But Oliver was still very much asleep.

If Felicity wanted to avoid embarrassing them both, she needed to get up from under Oliver before he awakened. That was however easier said than done.

She tried to move again and this time Oliver lifted his head, finally awake.

Blue eyes locked on to blue eyes, both of them not daring to move or even breath.

Finally Oliver rolled to his side, anchored on his elbow, "Good Morning Felicity," still a little groggy.

"Morning Oliver," Felicity said moving to get out of bed before Oliver's arm shot out to stop her.

"I'm sorry for falling asleep on top of you. Although it really wasn't an unpleasant experience if I was being completely honest."

Felicity looked at Oliver for a second then looked away blushing, "we have to get ready for the day. Just, don't make a habit of it, the sleeping with me, not sleep _sleep, _but sleep, platonic sleeping together. You have to go back to your couch tomorrow night. Let's not make this more awkward than it already is."

Oliver lifted his upper body from the bed using his elbows. "On the contrary Felicity, there was nothing awkward about us sleeping on the same bed. We can go as slow as you want. As strong as my desire is for you, I would never force myself on you. Not until you make the first move. I've stated my position so many occasions already. The ball is now going to be on your court. However, seeing how last night went. You should know that you can trust me not to take advantage of the situation. I think this is where I will sleep every night."

Felicity huffed to protest but didn't want to start her day arguing with Oliver choosing to just give him a "I dare you to follow through with that' look before she stomped away to the en suite to get ready.

Truth be told, Felicity did not immediately panic when she first realized Oliver and she were sleeping on the same bed and that Oliver was practically on top of her because it really wasn't an unpleasant experience. In fact, it was rather nice. It had been a long time she did sleepovers. She wasn't that type of girl after all.

But still, she had to stand by her resolve. No man, however charming he was, was going to make her cave that easily. She may not have had that much experience with the opposite sex but she after what Oliver had said this morning about the ball being on her court, she knew he had given her the power to determine how their relationship was going to go. One thing she was sure of, she wouldn't make it easy for Oliver Queen. Nope. He was used to girls falling all over themselves for him. She was determined to show Oliver that she was someone he had to work for. If in the end, he'd realize she wasn't worth all the trouble then it would be his loss. Not hers.

But Felicity had more pressing matters, like getting ready for her day at Moore's. She was definitely excited. Finally, this was what she wanted. What she craved for, where she wanted to be exactly when she chose QC over its other competitors.

Of course, she never thought it would come so early in her career, in her tenure within QC. But, she had proven to everyone who mattered in QC that she was more than capable, that she was a prized employee of QC. So she didn't dwell so much on raised eyebrows of other QC employees, if she were to encounter any of them that is.

Today, she wanted to look her smartest, not that she didn't look smart. She just wanted to look her very best. She was at least ten years younger than the other members of the Team QC had assembled, except for Oliver of course who was about maybe four years older than her.

Felicity, Oliver's team, Walter Steele and Robert Queen had spent close to four hours inside a special test R&amp;D room with David Moore. Just like the rest of the team, Felicity had been excited with what they had been shown, who wouldn't be, being treated to a first-hand look of all pending R&amp;D projects of Moore.

If the buy-out was to conclude in favor of QC, QC would stand to benefit in the billions in the next thirty to forty years by consequence, every single employee of QC in her age bracket would be assured that the company would outlive their tenure at QC. Moore's projects, coupled with QC's own applied sciences projects where just the best in their field. And Felicity was excited with the prospect that because of her age and skills, she would get a very hands on part in all these projects. She decided that nothing could tempt her away from QC after seeing the future of QC right before her eyes. She was giddy with excitement at the prospect.

By a little past one, David had called a halt for lunch to be served. Robert, Walter and Oliver took the break to answer emails and calls that they chose not to take while inside the R&amp;D room in order not to miss anything.

Oliver took the longest to get back. After he was done with all his official calls, he decided to call Tommy to update him. Oliver had the most number of missed calls and texts on his phone from Tommy. Never patient, Tommy had been asking about the progress Oliver had made with Felicity.

On his way back, Oliver passed by one of the servers, he noticed that one of the dishes was a Salmon crusted dish. Nuts, Macadamia nuts to be exact. But this version served had the nuts blended in so well you wouldn't be able to see them.

Oliver stopped the server. He just couldn't not know if the dish included nuts as one of the ingredients or if any of the other dishes contained nuts. Felicity was allergic to nuts. Oliver knew that.

The server confirmed that the salmon did have miniscule amounts of macadamia nuts. Because this was not common knowledge…yet, no one from QC had bothered to tell the Moore's or anyone in their staff that Felicity was allergic to nuts.

Oliver suddenly felt the need to rush forward, almost running to the room where lunch was being served.

The scene that was unfolding in front of Oliver was one of his worst nightmares.

Felicity was choking half lying on the ground and all the men were surrounding her but none of them knew what to do. David Moore was shouting instructions to someone to call the medics who apparently were part of Moore's operation.

Oliver had pushed the men aside, one of them his father to get to Felicity grabbing her face as she continued to choke and turn blue.

"Give me her bag," Oliver shouted to no one in particular. All he knew was that if Felicity knew she was allergic, she would have an EpiPen with her at all times. She was smart like that.

Someone threw Felicity's bag to him and he immediately rummaged inside searching for….yes, she has one. He grabbed the pen and plunged it into Felicity without preamble eliciting a collective gasp from everyone else in the room.

"She's allergic to nuts. She just experienced anaphylaxis shock, thank god she had the pen with her," Oliver was still breathing hard the adrenalin of the few seconds was still to wear off.

"Thank God she told you then. We didn't know what was happening," Robert Queen said what everyone was thinking at that moment.

Oliver looked down at Felicity who was still out but seemed to be breathing normal before looking up at his father with a nod. He didn't correct his father's impression that Felicity had shared that fact with him.

In fact, he dreaded to think what would have happened had he not diligently and meticulously gobbled up any and all information he could get about Felicity including requesting a copy of Felicity's whole file from human resources under the guise of course of just making sure they did diligent research on each employee before they are trusted with QC secrets. HR had readily provided the file since everyone knew Felicity had been already sitting in some special projects of QC even before she had been selected to be part of this team.

So among other things he had found out about Felicity, like her preference for red wine, chocolates and sweets was her allergic reaction to nuts, all types of nuts. He had made sure all the 'gifts' her had sent her whether as Oliver Queen or as her 'Secret Admirer' were food and things she really loved. Research. He was thankful that he had done the research. It has saved Felicity's life.

Although with relief came trepidation. The medics of Moore where now working on Felicity. They had transferred her to a moving gurney and were getting ready to bring her to either their medical facility or a hospital in the area. Oliver's attention was back now on the medics, determined not to be excluded. Willing to remain on Felicity's side wherever the medics thought it would be more appropriate.

The medics where now briefing David Moore, of course, their boss was the first to know what the diagnose was.

Noticing Oliver's restlessness, David beckoned him to join them. Telling him that the medics recommended an overnight stay in the hospital, just as a precaution, assuring Oliver that the emergency had already pass. This was purely precautionary bordering on over kill.

Grabbing Felicity's bag and nodding to his father, Oliver determinedly followed the medics out.

* * *

Felicity blinked awake confused at first as to why she was lying down in what looked like a hospital bed. Slowly, she remembered what had happened. Moore's, they took a break for lunch and they were in the middle of what was an enjoyable lunch when she started to choke. She was eating fish, Salmon to be exact. There were nuts in the salmon, that was the only explanation for her ordeal. But how had she gone from there to here. It was all hazy.

She seemed to recall Oliver looming over her. But all the men seemed to be looming over her too. No, it was Oliver who had the presence of mind to search for her…EpiPen, wait, why would he know that.

No one knew she was allergic to nuts. She hadn't been in QC long enough for anyone to know that. She definitely never told anyone, let along Oliver, they definitely where not at that level yet for her to tell him everything.

But somehow he had known.

Why was that?

And why did this seem like déjà vu. Looking down, she saw the same blond head resting, not quite over her chest this time but on the side of the hospital bed, just beside her waist. Her hand was twined with his. That was the reason why she couldn't move her hand.

"Oliver." She called out, frowning how light and breathy her voice sounded.

Oliver did not wake, did not even move.

She tried again, this time she called out his name at the same time she used her waist to give his face a little shove.

This time Oliver stirred, a little confused for a few seconds before he was suddenly on alert, eyes flying to hers.

"Felicity, are you…,do you need anything. Should I call the doctor?" Oliver's words flew out if his mouth.

All Felicity could do was shake her head slightly.

Oliver stood up to sit down on the side of the bed to get a better view of her face.

"What do you need?"

Felicity shook her head again, "nothing. I'm just, I was just confused for a moment. I had an allergic attack didn't I?" She asked Oliver frowning.

Oliver pressed his lips together in remembrance, "yes. I went out to return some calls, when I came back you...they were already surrounding you. You already were…..thank god you had an EpiPen with you."

Felicity nodded then frowned again. Oliver wasn't supposed to know that.

Felicity looked up at Oliver, a question in her eyes. Oliver looked away as if guilty of something.

He knew I was allergic to nuts, somehow. Felicity correctly interpreted the look on Oliver's face.

"How," that was the only thing she asked him.

Oliver stood up from his perch at the side of her bed to look outside the window. His back to Felicity before he answered or more like evaded the question.

"You need as much rest as you can get after what happened."

"Answer the question Oliver," Felicity told him.

Oliver finally turned around to face her, rubbing his face before answering her, "I asked human resources for a copy of your file, you wrote down that you were allergic to nuts, so that's where I read it."

Felicity's face started to contort at Oliver's admitting he had a copy of her file. She didn't know if it was standard procedure for top executives or owners of the company to be given access to employee files, maybe it was. But somehow, judging Oliver's guilty expression, she felt it was more than just that. He was hiding something.

"So I should be thankful that you diligently read through my whole bio. That in the process you saved my life."

Oliver was struggling, on one hand he could just take the out and just leave it there. But, he knew if he would leave it there it would somehow blow up on his face later causing even bigger problems for him and his pursuit of Felicity. So Oliver decided to come clean at that moment. Maybe Felicity in bed still a little weak, still recovering from her ordeal was to his advantage.

Oliver pushed forward retaking the seat he had vacated earlier gently taking hold of one of her hands before starting his confession.

"I had other reasons for securing a copy of your papers from human resources." He felt himself heat up a little under the collar knowing that meant he had a very faint blush from his neck to the side of his face. He got that way when he was overwhelmed with emotions.

Felicity noticed Oliver's hesitation then a second later a pinkish blush appear on the lower side of his cheek. What was Oliver going to say next to illicit such a reaction from him Felicity thought.

"I, I wanted to get to know more about you. About the woman who had me so intrigued the first time I met her. I didn't know how you would react to me as Oliver Queen because as it was, you were building all this walls around us, it was almost impossible for me to show you that my intentions were honorable. I mean I know I had a reputation, but half of that if played up by the media. But with you, it was challenging, it still is."

Oliver squeezed her hand before he continued, "I sent you gifts. Gifts that I hoped you would appreciate more based on references I got from your file."

Felicity nodded, "the flowers, they were nice."

"Not just the flowers Felicity. I sent you chocolates, nut free of course. That bottle of red wine, among other things."

Felicity frowned recalling the other 'gifts' she received. "No they were sent by someone else, by…wait, you're my secret admirer?"

Oliver shrugged, the pinkish blush spreading all throughout his face, "I guess it's an apt term, admirer," trying to smile, inhaling nervously before he looked into her eyes, "are you mad?"

"I should be." A half second later she continued, "I am. I thought we we're past all this lying and deceit Oliver," Felicity tried to sit up but failed plopping back awkwardly on the bed with Oliver immediately by her side, concern in his eyes.

Felicity looked at Oliver, really looked at Oliver the first time. Even after he had come clean with the 'Jonas' chapter, she hadn't really thought Oliver was as sincere as he wanted her to believe he was. She had been determined to be that one girl Oliver Queen wouldn't, couldn't get with just an easy smile, a wink or a line, she was Felicity Smoak after all. Maybe they weren't in the same circles but she'll be damned if she didn't believe she was worthy, worth being pursued, deserving of someone who would walk over fire for her. She said it before. She made something of herself on her own. And if she were to give her heart to anyone, it wasn't going to be to someone who wasn't in it to win her. And maybe, just maybe, Oliver Queen really was serious.

Oliver kept giving her those glances, his eyes shifting from her eyes to her face as if he could get the answers he was seeking. But of course Felicity was known for her poker face, at least in College she was. And she was putting that in good use right now.

She had planned what would happen next without giving Oliver a clue in her head. She would be discharged. They would go back to the Moore house where undoubtedly everyone was worried about her. And she would make Oliver work for it harder than ever. Yes, she even gave a grin which she let Oliver see, his eyes narrowing, then let the grin disappear completely.

* * *

Oliver wasn't as dumb as he looked. He wasn't at the league of Felicity's brain, but he was above average. So he noticed the shift almost immediately.

This version Felicity was scary. This Felicity had come out to play. Call him out on all his bullshit and one up him. He noticed a subtle flirtation but always under the guise of her assessing how he would react, what he would do next.

No. He definitely was following her lead and her ground rules to the letter. He had been banished back to the outer room where he had slept for the last five nights.

His family had gone back to Starling City after being assured that Felicity was fine and that Oliver would take care of her. It was now only the two of them in the master suite. And for the first time, Oliver felt a little over his head.

Felicity of course was in her element. Proving not only to be the bright shining young star of QC, she had everyone she encountered at Moore's mesmerized not only by her brain but her uniquely quirky personality. But more than that, the Moore's really took to her as if she was a long lost daughter, more so after her near fatal accident.

At this point, Oliver had no more skeletons in the closet to haunt him when it came to Felicity. It was just him now, stripped down, with just his sincerity has his ally.

On that sixth night, Oliver fell asleep on the couch with a smile on his face. He wasn't going to give up. He knew he was breaking down those barriers. He was getting though her defenses.

Unknown to him, he didn't know just how effectively he was getting under her skin and it all culminated that sixth night. Felicity peeked outside the bedroom to check if all of the lights in the outer room where off.

Sure that they were, she tiptoed until she was right in front of Oliver Queen who was in very deep slumber. She folded her knees and sat down on the carpet in front of Oliver. She reached out a hand to stroke his hair which earned her a small unconscious sigh from Oliver making Felicity smile.

Oliver's sigh gave a confidence to do what she did next. She leaned in and pressed her lips to his for a few second before leaning back out. Their very first kiss, she was sure he and she would have imagined this moment differently. Her hand flew up to her lips as if to quell the tingling of her lips. Well, she would have never thought she would have made this first move and on an unconscious Oliver Queen too.

All those weeks and especially these last few days, she finally admitted it to herself. Oliver Queen was getting to her. She pressed her fingers to her lips one last time and pressed the same fingers to Oliver's lips before she stood up from the floor wishing Oliver sweet dreams.

And Oliver was really having the sweetest dream, although it really wasn't a dream. It really was Felicity in the flesh who leaned in to give him a kiss. He had struggled not to move and breathe as normally as a sleeping person would.

As she stood up to move away, he finally opened his eyes and track her progress until he couldn't see her anymore.

* * *

_**sigh...**_

_**who wouldn't want to be woken up with a kiss. A real one is coming the next chapter with both of them wide awake. Am just imagining the perfect set-up for it. Any suggestions?**_


End file.
